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French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu
Today's Headlines
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Economy
Is Ned Ludd Writing For The Associated Press?
Interesting Powerlineblog dissection of an AP opinion piece on the seemingly permanent loss of jobs in the course of the Nobama administration. The premise is that technology is the reason the jobs have gone away, seemingly never to return.

As it happens, I was talking with the Little Woman (she's less than eighteen inches tall) about that very thing the other day. Banks have been replacing human tellers with ATMs. If you go to Home Depot you're expected, though not yet required, to check yourself out, using their automated checkout system. If you try to contact Comcast or Verizon or most any other company you get to poke buttons on your phone until you've managed to confuse the decidedly artificial theoretical intelligence, at which point you'll maybe be connected with a human and put on hold for forty five minutes.

The conversation wasn't, however, about technology. It was about a proposal to raise the minimum wage in Maryland to $9.75, or about 30 percent over the current $7.25. What this means, as we tried patiently to explain to our 16-year-old grandson, is that to make up this difference either employees have to become 30 percent more productive or that 30 percent of the hourly wage earners have to be displaced, either by technology or by nothing.

Take your pick. The company -- whichever company it is, whether Wal-Mart or Joe's Gas Station & General Store -- isn't going to just suck it up and take a hit on profits. For one thing, Joe's probably making just over break-even, and that only by lying on his tax forms.

We've entered an age now where software (not computers) possesses a rudimentary intelligence. It's not self-aware, but it's aware of us. That's why we get "Press 1 for English, 2 para Español," followed by "Does your computer's screen light up?" usually followed by "I do not understand the word 'Goddammit!' Please rephrase your response." You can buy one of these programs for an initial layout of anywhere from $300 to several thousand dollars. That actually makes owning the idiot machine more cost-effective than hiring the illiterate high school child.

And now politicians want to make it 30 percent more cost effective to buy the software.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 13:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
How Big Government Undermines Freedom and Prosperity
After hearing the criticism directed toward golfer Phil Mickelson for his modest comments about California's highest-in-the-nation tax rates causing him to consider relocating, I was left wondering what country we live in. Did you ever have one of those moments?

"If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate is 62, 63 percent," Mickelson said. "So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do." He pointed to "drastic changes" that are driving his decision--an obvious reference to the income-tax hikes California voters placed on millionaires like him. Media and public critics were aghast and mocked this poor rich guy for his complaints.

The spectacle of Mickelson apologizing on Sunday, then doing so a second time later in the week, was the worst part of this spectacle. "I think that it was insensitive to talk about it publicly to those people who are not able to find a job, that are struggling paycheck to paycheck," Mickelson said.
See the article about about Rawls and his impact on attitudes.
To the AP reporter, Mickelson wasn't sufficiently apologetic: "He didn't apologize for what he said, only that he said it."
(ditto)
Mickelson is just trying to get his mind back in golf, so I don't begrudge him for using the lingo that our society requires from the chastened. It's now "insensitive" for a wealthy person to complain about a confiscatory tax rate as long as there are other, less fortunate people out there somewhere. That's not a healthy attitude in a free and prosperous society.

"A generation ago, the vitriol his comments triggered would have been surprising, and somewhat isolated," CalWatchdog's Chris Reed argued. "Griping about taxes used to be something of an American tradition. No more." This attitude, he notes, now comes from the highest level of government.

Consider the president's second inaugural address, which was a celebration of the wonders of government. The Democrats who run our state view private business as something ranging from a blight to a necessary evil that can be endlessly tapped to fund every new program they envision.

If you think the "blight" comment is an exaggeration, consider this: Recently, the California Air Resources Board sent out a press release celebrating a $300,000 fine it imposed on a business. The quotation from CARB's chief enforcement officer included this warning: "All business owners should pay attention to this case." That's like something uttered by a villain in an Ayn Rand novel.

I've always sensed a deep understanding that transcends left and right in America--you can make it big and enjoy the fruits of your labor. During the early days of the labor movement, the hard leftists never made much headway because of that deep-seated idea that, no matter how humble one's beginnings, an American can make it big some day.
Many no longer believe that's necessarily true.
Something has changed, even as our society has become wealthier. Sure businesses have to comply with regulations and millionaires need to pay taxes, but somewhere we've shifted from honoring success to envying it, from viewing government as a limited tool to achieve a few necessary things (infrastructure, enforcing the rule of law) to seeing it as the be-all and end-all of our society.

Why is it assumed by these moralistic Affluence Police that the rich are mainly greedy people who spend their money on luxury goods? Charities and non-profits are funded by wealthy people. Real capitalists invest millions of dollars into ideas and often create good jobs in the process. I have no idea what Mickelson does with his money, but it isn't any of my business. Given California governmental attitudes, one can't blame him for looking elsewhere.

For instance, during a recent Capitol press conference, the Orange County Register's Sacramento reporter asked Gov. Jerry Brown about the spending increases in his supposedly austere budget. Brown joked about there being no hope for Orange County readers, according to a Register editorial. Then he mocked "this doctrine that government is the problem," which he said is promoted by the "Orange County Register or whoever all these people are."

At the Capitol, the free market is viewed as an arcane joke. Yet I look at everything government does--at all those programs and bureaucracies and entitlements that Brown and Obama prefer. I see enormous debt, corruption, abuses of power, union-enrichment schemes, shoddy services, terrible attitudes, and an endless sea of scandal and greed. Just read the newspapers.

But the scorn should be expected. The state uses a static model for calculating revenues. It assumes that if you raise taxes by, say, 20 percent that the state will get 20 percent more money. In the real world, people move to lower-tax places or work less or hide more of their income, and the government gets 20 percent of a smaller pie.

If wealthy people keep leaving, then the state will have to pare back its budget. Perhaps the backlash against Mickelson is a sign of desperation by those who understand there might be limits to how many golden eggs the geese keep laying.
And a challenge to deeply held but not well-examined beliefs. That said, the right has some examination of its own that's overdue. Show me the private initiatives that have seriously and effectively focused on, say, inner city education alternatives/enrichment backed by internships or apprenticeships, and a visible trend for those grads to have productive careers and lives. Where are stories like this that are more than tokens, that give people a new way of envisioning a future?
Posted by: Beavis || 01/27/2013 12:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Show me the private initiatives that have seriously and effectively focused on, say, inner city education alternatives/enrichment backed by internships or apprenticeships, and a visible trend for those grads to have productive careers and lives.

I can't give you the kind of detailed overview you want, lotp, but Procter & Gamble invests both money and volunteer hours in enrichment and guidance programs for minorities in their hometown inner city schools. This and this are just some of their many initiatives intended to lead to increased numbers of employable minorities, whether in the STEM fields or business.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Seattle Times today skewered Phil; how dare he even consider leaving and how will he ever make it on the few mill he has left?
Typical libtard drivel.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/27/2013 18:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks, tw.

My employer has similar programs. But: it's not obvious that these have a large impact. If they do, it certainly hasn't formed the basis for outreach from the libertarian/right.

And that's the problem that lost the last election, in good part. The left has a compelling story about taking care of people through government. The libertarian/right doesn't have an equally compelling story about the private sector doing a better job by combining freedom with a helping hand for individuals that translates into social benefit overall.

The audience has been shaped to believe that surface equality of opportunity doesn't really translate into equality of opportunity at all due to significant inequalities in circumstance. And they are right to be skeptical, especially in the current environment. Unfortunately, the 'group' voices on the left shouted down the 'individual' emphasis Rawls intended, which exacerbates the demand that government step in. It's all well and good to talk about freedom trumping fairness, but for those who don't believe many of us *are* effectively free to shape our own lives, the message is disbelieved.

Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 18:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Show me the private initiatives that have seriously and effectively focused on, say, inner city education alternatives/enrichment

I'm a Protestant, but I'd still suggest the Roman Catholic parochial school system. Looking for others will be hard because the government has spent the last 80 years crowding them out.

internships or apprenticeships

fought by big government's BFF big labor at every turn

a visible trend for those grads to have productive careers and lives.

who in big government would get a pay increase if this happened? Perhaps if the black church hadn't been co-opted by big government the blacks might finally be having as much success as the much discriminated Catholics have had. But we'll never know because they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the big government.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/27/2013 18:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Coveting thy neighbor's goods used to be one of the 10 Commandments, no? Now it's the Democrat Party platform
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 19:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Run through all 10. Carefully. How many do government action subvert?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/27/2013 20:17 Comments || Top||


Africa North
French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] French and Malian troops have begun restoring government control over Timbuktu, the latest gain in a fast-moving offensive against Islamist fighters allied to al-Qaida who have occupied northern Mali.

The rebels have retreated northwards to avoid relentless French air strikes that have destroyed their bases, vehicles and weapons, allowing ground troops to advance rapidly with armoured vehicles and air support.

A Malian military source told Reuters that the French and Malian forces reached the gates of Timbuktu late on Saturday without resistance from the insurgents who had held the town since last year.

The advancing troops were working on securing the town, a Unesco world heritage site and labyrinth of ancient mosques, monuments and mud-brick homes, ready to flush out any fighters who may still be hiding among the population.

"Timbuktu is delicate. You can't just go in like that," the source, who asked not to be named, said.

On Saturday, troops recaptured Gao, which along with Timbuktu was one of three major northern towns occupied last year by Tuareg and Islamist rebels whose ranks included fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

The third town, Kidal, remains in rebel hands.

The US and Europe are backing the UN-mandated operation as a campaign against the threat of jihadists using Mali's Sahara desert region as a launching pad for international attacks.

One Timbuktu resident now outside the town said a friend inside had sent him text messages saying he had seen government troops on the streets, but gave no more details.

The rebels in the town provoked international outrage by destroying ancient shrines sacred to moderate Sufi Muslims.

They also imposed strict sharia law, including amputations for thieves and the stoning of adulterers.

Malian government control was restored in Gao after French special forces backed by warplanes and helicopters seized the town's airport and a key bridge. Around a dozen "terrorists" were killed in the assault, while French forces suffered no losses or injuries, the country's defence ministry said.

The rebels appeared to be withdrawing further north into the trackless wilderness of the Sahara, from where some military experts fear they could wage a guerrilla war.

Officials said the mayor of Gao, Sadou Diallo, who had taken refuge in Bamako during the occupation, had been reinstalled at the head of the local administration while French, Malian, Chadian and Nigerian troops secured the town and the surrounding area.

As the French and Malian troops push northwards, African troops from a regional intervention force expected to number 7,700 are being flown into the country, despite delays caused by logistical problems and the lack of airlift capacity.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 12:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  The Sahara stretches 2,983 miles (4,800 klicks) from the Atlantic to the red sea. Good luck patrolling that border.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  How do you say.... "all day sucker" in French ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 12:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Good luck finding supplies in the desert, or hiding in the bush.
Posted by: gromky || 01/27/2013 15:04 Comments || Top||

#4  With IR sensors the desert is not such a great hiding place any longer. Not much background clutter I suspect.
Posted by: tipover || 01/27/2013 19:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Tipover - only add a minigun to the drone, some lightly armored wheeled vehicles below, and contract police forces to patrol the wastes. I wonder if the French regulars are there just for speed on offense, and to watch the Malian "regulars"?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 01/27/2013 22:03 Comments || Top||

#6  For all the breathless commentary about "arms flowing out of Libya", just what do the "rebels" have? Artillery? Small rockets and tubes? Anything more lethal than RPGs and toyota-mounted automatic weapons?

Is the media confusing quantity with quality?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 01/27/2013 22:06 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan: Countering Militancy in PATA
"Pakistan's Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), which include Swat and six neighbouring districts and areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK), remains volatile more than three years after military operations sought to oust Islamist extremists. Militant groups such as the Sunni extremist Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) and its Pakistani Taliban-linked Fazlullah faction are no longer as powerful in Swat and other parts of PATA as they were in 2008 and early 2009, but their leaders and foot soldiers remain at large, regularly attacking security personnel and civilians."

"Public and political support for action against the TNSM and allied Pakistani Taliban networks in Swat and its neighbouring districts remains strong, demonstrated by the outrage against the 9 October 2012 attack by Mullah Fazlullah's Taliban faction on Malala Yousafzai, a Swat-based fourteen-year-old activist for girls' right to education."
Sorry to hear about the girl. Glad to hear about the outrage.
"Despite public opposition to Islamist militancy in Swat and neighbouring PATA districts, the ANP-led provincial government has not repealed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009, which imposed Sharia (Islamic law) in PATA as part of a military-devised peace deal with the Taliban-allied TNSM in April 2009."
How did that work out?
"Efforts to revive a shattered economy, once heavily dependent on tourism, have also faltered, and pressing humanitarian needs remain unmet because of continued instability and short-sighted military-dictated policies and methods."
Yep, I had to drop the PATA from my list of top tourist spots.

Near the end of the Executive summary is a list of recommendations. For some reason, number 10 stuck out.
"10. Review the constitutionality of jirgas (tribal councils), including consistency with fundamental rights of equality, dignity and fair trial, drawing on the 2004 judgment of the Sindh High Court that deemed these forums unconstitutional."
There they go again, expecting Wahhabi and Salafist to care about fundamental rights of equality, dignity and fair trial.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 11:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria's Boko Haram Members Trained in Mali, Minister Says
[BLOOMBERG] The Nigerian government said some members of Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, the myrmidon Islamist group it’s been fighting since 2009, were trained in northern Mali and have links with Islamist gunnies controlling the region.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, sent troops to help expel Islamists from northern Mali as a part of the West African country’s own fight against Boko Haram, “because we know that there was a linkage between them and the groups in Mali,” Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said in an interview yesterday in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“Some of those characters were trained in northern Mali,” Ashiru said. “So if we can destroy their capability in northern Mali it will help us at home.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is battling an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed hundreds of people since 2009. The group, which wants to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria, has carried out bomb and gun attacks in the mainly Moslem north and Abuja, the capital. Nigeria’s more than 160 million people are almost evenly split between the north and a largely Christian south.

Nigeria is sending 1,200 troops to Mali to join soldiers from La Belle France and other West African countries seeking to recapture territory lost to Islamist Islamic fascisti and ethnic Touareg separatists. The crisis may spill into Nigeria if not brought under control, President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
told politicians on Jan. 17.

Links Investigated

The government is investigating links between Boko Haram and Islamist gunnies in control of almost two-thirds of Mali, Colonel Mohammed Yerima, director of information at Nigeria’s Defense Ministry, said Jan. 22.

Yerima said there’s no difference between the Mali-based Islamists and Boko Haram, and Nigerian authorities will treat them the same way. He said there is “every possibility that they will heighten their attacks.”

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi backed the government’s move, urging the Nigerian forces to try to find the training camps in northern Mali and stop the Islamic fascisti from there. The 2011 ouster of Muammar Qadaffy
... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
in Libya destabilized the region, with many sub-Saharan Africans in his army fleeing to their countries with weapons, he said.

Abuse Allegations

“A lot of this problem seems to be emanating from the deserts of Mauritania and Mali and of course southern Algeria,” Sanusi said in an interview today at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “So, it’s in the interest of the country to go to the source and nip it.”

Boko Haram has links with myrmidon groups in North Africa and in northern Mali, President Jonathan told CNN on Jan. 23. He rejected accusations by rights groups that the Nigerian authorities are inflaming the situation by committing abuses in their crackdown on Boko Haram.

Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
and Amnesia Amnesty International said Nigerian forces committed extrajudicial killings, shot jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
people dead or beat people to death in detention and in the streets. The groups said actions by Nigerian forces are illegal and are inflaming civilians who aren’t linked to the group, giving Boko Haram more ground to recruit people.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 10:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  The 2011 ouster of Muammar ["the duck"] Qadaffy
... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
in Libya destabilized the region, with many sub-Saharan Africans in his army fleeing to their countries with weapons, he said.


If it is just an employment problem, have the French open a Foreign Legion recruiting desk.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 12:46 Comments || Top||


Nigeria: 'Name Boko Haram Members in Your Govt'
[ALLAFRICA] Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to name agents of Boko Haram in his government and possibly prosecute them.

This was even as General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) had condemned the Jonathan administration for failing to secure lives and property in the country. National Publicity Secretary of the CPC, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja accused Okupe of deploying bullish tactics to shut up critics as well as opposition in the country in his response to the former Head of State's comments.

"Does it not speak eloquently on the mind-set of the President that he encourages his aides to lambast a former Nigerian leader and respected statesman for volunteering his concern on the general insecurity in the Nation state?

"Is it not a matter of grave concern that when a respected monarch, with all the retinue of security staff, could be so gruesomely attacked on the street, what hope is there for the ordinary Nigerian in this dispensation?

"Is it not ludicrous that, for more than one year since this President declared the infiltration of his government by Boko Haram, nobody (within his government) has been handed over for judicial prosecution?

"Is it not true that, rather than making the polity safe for the Citizens (based on the oath of allegiance sworn to on 29th May, 2011), this President has lately renewed his assault on our collective psyche with all the shenanigans of devious politicking, ahead of 2015 elections?," the party queried.

The CPC said it would continue to leave up to its billing as a political party and also as vibrant opposition political party and help the nation in its quest for uprightness and accountability.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 10:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Caribbean-Latin America
245 dead in Brazil Nightclub Fire
Great White says: "wudn't us!"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 10:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Indoor fireworks, the downside.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Flashover.

First rate tragedy; sounds like only 2 in 5 made it out. This place looks like a death trap to begin with. What can we learn?

First, this happened very quickly, but why so many? The first concern, other than the initial casualties, would be the stampede. Second, inhalation. Third, exposure.

Fire codes exist for a reason; do not rely on them to keep you safe. This place was likely over capacity, especially considering pyrotechnics. Appraise your situation, whether it is a night club, ferry, whatever. Don't put yourself in that spot.

Second, in the stampede, and its the sugar free truth. Do not fall. Do not get pinned. Do not give up. Break shit, like the good heads who were trying to breach the walls. Obviously you cannot get low and crawl in such a situation, control your breathing as the air is bad and get out however possible.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/27/2013 13:03 Comments || Top||

#3  exit doors locked. again.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I didn't realize that Whitesnake was still touring...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/27/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  I was in a nightclub in China once that had one way in and one way out. The place was on the second floor, only reachable by two elevators. I remarked on this and felt claustrophobic inside. No accompanying stairs. Club didn't burn down though, but it still freaked me out.
Posted by: gromky || 01/27/2013 17:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, and if they don't lock the fire exits, people inside the club let their friends in for free. That's what happened at the Great White show.
Posted by: gromky || 01/27/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli minister welcomes report of huge blast at Iran nuclear plant
Israel's Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter on Sunday welcomed a report that Iran's Fordo nuclear facility had been rocked by a huge kaboom.

The report was published Friday on the website wnd.com, under the sensational headline: "Sabotage! Key Iranian nuclear facility hit?" It claimed that a blast deep within Fordo last Monday "destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground," citing information from former intelligence officer Hamidreza Zakeri, who it said used to work with the Islamic regime's Ministry of Intelligence and National Security.

The article claimed the blast "shook facilities within a radius of three miles," that Iranian security forces had "enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles," that the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast, and that, "as of Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had failed to reach the trapped personnel." It said US officials were aware of the reported blast.

There was no independent confirmation of the claims. Nonetheless, Israel's biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth led its Sunday paper with the report on the alleged blast, which it said might be "the most significant incidence of sabotage in the Iranian nuclear program to date."

Asked about the story, Dichter said, "Any kaboom in Iran that doesn't hurt people but hurts its assets is welcome."

The wnd.com report noted that Fordo "has become a center for Iran's nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges [there] enriching uranium to the 20-percent level... The regime's uranium enrichment process takes place at two known sites: the Natanz facility with more than 10,000 centrifuges and Fordow with more than 2,700. The regime currently has enough low-grade (3.5 percent) uranium stockpiled for six nuclear bombs if further enriched."

The report said that Iran's regime considers the explosion to be a case of sabotage and believes the explosives "could have reached the area disguised as equipment or in the uranium hexafluoride stock transferred to the site... The explosion occurred at the third centrifuge chambers, with the high-grade enriched uranium reserves below them."
Posted by: Grailet Thravinter2816 || 01/27/2013 09:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heh bout time
Posted by: Enver Cheth1759 || 01/27/2013 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Shortly after talks between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran fail, kaboom.

Short fuse.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably one of our new small-diameter, deep-penetration stealthy bunker-busters dropped out of a B-2 bomber. Which we have a lot of.
Posted by: gorb || 01/27/2013 13:02 Comments || Top||

#4  gorb,
You think that President Barack Hussein Obama II would authorize it?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 13:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Just the Israeli president exercising Executive Privilege.
Posted by: Kojo Wholuse5660 || 01/27/2013 15:10 Comments || Top||

#6  We ran the original WND story a few days ago. It's good to know the Israelis at least acknowledge the story is out there... Has anyone checked at Googlemaps of the area to see if anything appears different?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 16:34 Comments || Top||

#7  the blogger here, claims to have some independent confirmation that something happened at the site
Posted by: lord garth || 01/27/2013 19:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Iran is denying any boom took place.

* TOPIX > FORMER IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS IRAN WON'T HESITATE TO USE NUCLEAR BOMBS ON ISRAEL + OTHERS [read, US-Allies], iff it ever gets enough time to dev its own Nucbomb.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:09 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Jimmy Carter, Where are You?
Travelers have a warning for drivers who park their cars near Denver International Airport (DIA). Rabbits are chewing the wires under many cars costing owners a lot of money. The rabbits get in and chew the brake lines, the clutch lines and other wiring. Local car repair shops estimates they can do thousands of dollars in damage.
A Monty Python qote is needed here.
"When I had the trouble with the oil light coming on, the dealer told me the wires that controlled the air conditioning were chewed," said Ken Blum, one car owner who knows all about the not so funny bunny business at DIA.
Bring me the Holy Handgrenade.
Blum has had to have repairs done on his car twice due to rabbit damage and he estimates the cost at approximately $700.
3 shall be the number of thy counting, 5 is right out.
"I saw no signs...nothing to tell me, 'Hey, beware'," Blum told CBS4. "My insurance didn't cover it, the manufacturer didn't cover it."
It's Wabbit Season!
This isn't a new problem at the airport. CBS4 first started covering hungry hares in 1999. They were munching on the wires of de-icing equipment. Now it seems they've moved to the outlying parking lots.
I would think de-iceing stuff would be rather toxic.
CBS4 contacted airport officials about the problem. They said that only a small percentage of the people who park out there ever complain of rabbit caused car problems. They also told CBS4 that United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents patrol the parking lots and remove rabbits when they see them.

Hungry hares are not just a problem at DIA, other private parking lots are having trouble too. Lot owners tell CBS4 that they're trying to deter the rabbits with extra fencing and coyote urine.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/27/2013 09:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some of my associates are Beagles. We can work a deal. Call me. I see profit for both of us, else..... well you know.




S
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Squirrels also get under the hoods of vehicles and chew up wiring. Beagles might just be the solution.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 10:47 Comments || Top||

#3  JQC, never had them chew the wires but they can screw up the ventilation system by stuffing it with acorns. The garage didn't even laugh, just said it happens all the time.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/27/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#4  ... they're trying to deter the rabbits with extra fencing and coyote urine

I find that lead poisoning works best.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 12:50 Comments || Top||

#5  and coyote urine

Or maybe actual coyotes?
Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2013 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  "well, we lost a couple lone travelers to the pack in D Lot Longterm, but at least the car wire damage has really dropped"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 13:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Some of the solutions seem like they come from the Acme Corporation, Steve. Oh, well. Everybody has a hungry hare, everybody has a hungry hare.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/27/2013 15:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Eric dear, please spend some time in your room pondering the mischief you have done hare.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 15:31 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 15:47 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Ethnic Cleansing in LA
Remember according to AG Holder and Co, only whites are capable of racism. Nothing to see here, move on. /sarc off
Posted by: Angaise Ulaimp2488 || 01/27/2013 08:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the Mexican Mafia prison gang has ordered street gangs under its control to attack African Americans. Leaders of the Azusa 13 gang were sentenced to lengthy prison terms earlier this month for leading a policy of attacking African American residents and expelling them from the town.

Similar attacks have taken place in Harbor Gateway, Highland Park, Pacoima, San Bernardino, Canoga Park and Wilmington.


This is a case of 30+ yr. prison feud spilling on to the street. Latinos and Blacks have been going at it in Prison for decades. The Whites stay out of the way and sell popcorn.

The dirty little secret of Afirmative Action is that this is inevitable. The Blacks think they are permanently entitled to all the goodies being doled out and the other races want a piece of it.

The biggest racial hostility today is between Blacks and Latinos. But you'll never hear about it in the MSM.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/27/2013 11:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Another Orville Redenbacher moment. Albion's Seed stand clear.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 11:23 Comments || Top||

#3  You will never hear about it on the MSM until they find a way to blame it on the white guys...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/27/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#4  The black vs mexican battles go back to when I was in high school in the earlier 70's in San Bernardino. ABC came out to cover the riots and we came out with a sign "Wide World of Sports". They would not film it.
Posted by: Jeanter Ebbemp4331 || 01/27/2013 12:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Declare open season on anyone associated with an illegal gang.
Posted by: Hellfish || 01/27/2013 12:21 Comments || Top||

#6  " It is now 65% Latino and 33% black, according to the 2010 U.S. census"

Was not aware we had many large cities in California that were just 1% white. That is a surprise.
Posted by: Beau || 01/27/2013 13:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Compton's not large. LA County has a bunch of small cities (see: Bell, CA)
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 13:38 Comments || Top||

#8  "Declare open season on anyone associated with an illegal gang."

There are legal gangs, Hellfish?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2013 14:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Sure Barb. They are called Democrats and Republicans.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/27/2013 15:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Sure Barb. They are called Democrats and Republicans.....

We could use an open season on them too.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 01/27/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#11  Changing demographics = changing gang territories
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#12  There are legal gangs, Hellfish?

Sure. We call 'em unions.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2013 16:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Touché, SteveS, CF, SAM. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2013 19:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Sunday Morning Coffee Pot: The Most Influential Writer You've Probably Never Heard Of
by lotp


It was culture that won the last election for Obama and it is culture that we must influence if we want to change the course of the country. But if we are to influence our culture we must start by understanding it and how it got to this point.

When Barack Obama repeatedly hit the theme of Fairness during the recent campaign, it resonated with people in the middle of hard economic times. The libertarian and right side of the country never offered an effective counter to this meme, which appears to have taken them by surprise.

It shouldn't have. Liberal political thought has been steeped for several decades in a worldview around justice, fairness and equality of outcome vs. equality of opportunity whose premises were laid by the most influential political philosopher you may never have heard of.

John Rawls died in 2002. His work isn't cited in court decisions and few today ascribe to the details of his positions. Yet he plowed the ground and planted the seeds that bore fruit last November and 4 years before that. Without knowing his name or examining his writings, most people under 40 (and many who are older) now accept as obvious truths the assertions he laid out and refined over several decades.

Rawls published his seminal work A Theory of Justice in 1971. The book had been gestating for nearly 20 years, taking shape as he used notes from the manuscript in the courses he taught at Harvard and while on a Fulbright fellowship at Oxford. It sold over 200,000 copies - a very high sales volume for a work in moral and political philosophy. In it Rawls set out to rescue liberalism from criticism on both the left and the right. His core premise was that inalienable human rights are the bedrock truth that must shape justice in society.

But what constitutes a human right? Rawls goes back two centuries to the Enlightenment, and specifically to Kant, as a starting place. The most basic civil and political right, he asserts, is to choose our own goals and to act on them. A just society must respect and actively guard that right. In this, Rawls was opposing Marxism and utilitarianism, two 19th century theories which each place the good of the whole over that of the individual. "Justice denies that the loss of freedom for some can ever be made right by a greater good shared by others," Rawls wrote.

But there is a problem we run into when putting the autonomy of individuals at the center of justice, and that problem is inequality. Inequality of family circumstances, education, physical and mental capabilities all mean that we are not in fact equally free to pursue our own ends. We are each either lucky or unlucky in what we have to work from. How then can justice be achieved, when inequality of circumstance inevitably limits the ability of some to choose and to act on their choices more than others?

Rawls asks us to consider a man or woman in what he calls the "original position" - i.e., utterly ignorant about his or her own situation. Rawls intends the original position to remove from our moral reasoning any bias in favor of ourselves. If you or I did not know whether we were wealthy or poor, male or female, young or old, healthy or ill, what social policies and rules would we consider the most just? He concludes that we would have to choose policies that assured that those in better circumstances have no benefit that doesn't also obtain for those who start in lesser circumstances. This is the only fair thing to do. The fairness principle, he asserts, must form the basis of a social contract for any just society. A just society is one in which people *choose* via a social contract to redistribute advantage so that all have a real chance at equality of outcome, because equality of opportunity is never actually a real situation in life without such a contract. Only this society is fair and therefore just.

Rawl's ideas stuck a chord with liberals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His books and papers reinvigorated many intellectuals by offering an alternative both to crude Marxism and to the unpalatable emptiness of modern critical theory which was then in full flower among academics. Rawls, it seemed, told them that they could - indeed, should - take bold action to remake society, and that they would be acting justly if they did so. A Theory of Justice is quite in line with the Great Society initiatives, with the rise of welfare and the civil rights movement, with environmentalism and a host of similar programs.

Rawls was not universally accepted on the left, however. A huge literature exists in response to his original book, critiquing it from all angles. Marxists pushed back, disliking the emphasis on individuals rather than social classes. A related criticism emerged as a result of the branching of literary critical theory into social, race and feminist critical theories. Each of these demanded not only a focus on group rather than individuals, but also a focus on inequalities between groups. In 2001 Rawls published Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, backing off of several positions in the earlier book (including a vision of religious diversity as part of the fair society).

Meanwhile the right was focused primarily on neo-liberal (i.e. free market) and monetarist economics, some of which had a libertarian focus on individual autonomy that simply ignored social context or inequality of circumstances entirely. The economically-oriented right stressed efficiency rather than fairness of opportunity, which they tended to define in terms of removing governmental limits on action. They were, in the short run, successful. The wage and price controls of Nixon and the signficant stagflation of Jimmy Carter's presidency gave way to growth under Ronald Reagan, which in turn fueled welfare reform and the dot com boom under Clinton. As far as the right/libertarians were concerned, their free market advocacy had been vindicated. The right didn't respond effectively to Rawls because they didn't feel they needed to. The rising tide of economic growth would lift all boats. Minorities and other disadvantaged people would inevitably migrate into greater prosperity and wellbeing. A virtuous cycle would reinforce itself as new opportunity overshadowed inherited disadvantages.

But the prosperity of the late 90s didn't last. The growing welfare state, a series of expensive wars and the aging of the huge Baby Boom generation all have intersected with major technology changes to create the crisis we are now in. And while that was happening, Justice as Fairness was permeating throughout academia and thence into much of the culture.

Which gets us to the emotional content of Rawls' theory and its continuing resonance today.

Rawls was doing more than theorizing intellectually when he worked out Justice as Fairness. He was responding to a series of events in his own life in which he was, inexplicably, lucky while others close to him were not. It's not just that he grew up with economic, educational and other advantages, although he did. It's more visceral than that. Two of his young siblings died after contracting illnesses from him, but he recovered both times. Men immediately next to him died during WWII, but he remained unscathed and went on to enjoy a rewarding academic career and happy marriage. Rawls came to see these experiences as emblematic of life at its foundation. Unless remedied, he observed, both unfairness and privilege tend to perpetuate themselves for those caught in or lifted up by them.

Listen carefully and you will hear Justice as Fairness everywhere you turn today. It forms the basis of the push for climate change treaties, of wealth redistribution (overt and indirect) by the government, and of columns criticizing Romney for rejoining the board of directors of Marriott rather than actively working for social change. It echoes more subtly in the firm conviction of many that they are not really, personally responsible for their own lives and the outcomes of their choices. It is shouted angrily in Occupy and anarchist riots. It appeals to people who are out of work through no fault of their own, or who grew up in urban poverty attending dangerous, poorly equipped and dysfunctional schools. It provides a tempting excuse for those who are in difficulty due to poor judgements, whose McMansions were way too expensive for them and are now being repossessed, whose union demands have bankrupted cities and companies, the young women who demand to Have It All without tradeoffs. It explains why Occupy protesters do not villify the wealthy 1% liberals who purport to support Occupy's goals, for such liberals don't justify their privilege and wealth as having been earned.

This is what we are up against. Justice as Fairness is not simply the product of envy, a misunderstanding many on the right rest in. It is a powerful theme infused into Western political thought as a result of Rawls' careful moral analysis and the intense responses his arguments triggered here and in Europe. However, the political impact of Justice as Fairness results not only from Rawl's careful analysis but also because it strikes a deep emotional chord with many people. It is this emotional response that Obama and others are playing on with great skill. Rawls influenced the thinking of an entire generation of intellectuals and academics who in turn influenced many of today's voters. Like Obi Wan Kenobi, Rawls was struck down by his various critics only to merge with the zeitgeist and become more powerful than ever.

What, if anything, can be said against Justice as Fairness? What does the libertarian/right side of the spectrum offer in its place? Whatever that message might be, it must resonate as deeply and with as much emotional impact if it is to be successful.

The very term 'liberal' promises freedom for new possibilities. The very term 'conservative' suggests an intent to preserve existing privilege and inequity. Perhaps we need a new start. Can the freedom of the individual to choose his or her own ends be preserved at the core of a new philosophy, a new party, that also recognizes and responds to the very real limitations that circumstances create for some while elevating others?

During the last few years the Tea Party and others have called for a return to self-reliance and neighborhood comity as the solution to social problems. But the small town/rural neighbor-helps-neighbor model is inadequate to the task. No matter how evocative references to such things are when they come from the mouth of Sarah Palin or in the form of the Romney campaign collecting plastic bags of miscellaneous goods for Sandy victims, they do not appear to be adequate to address the misery of inner city schools or the hopelessness of blue collar workers whose industries are being automated away. And Rawls is right: such circumstances do significantly limit opportunity for the people who are mired in them.

Inequality of circumstance is nothing new. The problem with the Tea Party message is, however, that it looks back to an old solution based on a situation that no longer obtains. We no longer have a physical frontier available for those who would risk leaving home and family to better their lives through independence, risk-taking and hard work alone. That is why the vision that fundamentally looks back to such days is uncompelling to many.

It lacks appeal to many young adults for whom it seems utterly out of touch with daily reality. Theirs is, after all, the cohort who are the most horizontally oriented (peer to peer relationships, information sharing etc.) of any generation in centuries of recent history. They live and breathe within global information networks, where the value of being connected in large systems is a given. The Tea Party is tri-corner hats and covered wagons crossing the prairie while they are collaborative online decisionmaking and nanoengineering. The Tea Party vision also fails to address the understandable concerns of Blacks who are now middle class but look around them and see their communities sliding fast back into poverty, and who are all too aware that many young Blacks have little realistic chance of escaping inner city hopelessness.

What new vision of Justice can we offer? Is there something from Rawls we can build on? If not, and if we do not offer some other compelling vision of Justice, Fairness will be the slogan that is used to justify a fundamental reworking of our country and every one of our institutions.

Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 07:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Elsewhere on this page-
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=01/27/2013&SO=&HC=4&ID=360940
demonstrates the current state of application of Rawls' philosophy (not just the women in combat part, but extension of ADA to establish accomodations to allow disabled kids to participate on sports teams - how much enabling is too much?)
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/27/2013 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the question might be, how would one make and defend a judgement about 'too much'. I certainly agree that these things seem counterproductive for society, not only in the local instance but in the way they reinforce some assumptions.

Our challenge is to articulate an alternate principle we can defend - and, in particular, one that can resonate emotionally and intellectually with many people. One they can identify with.
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 12:57 Comments || Top||

#3  The one they're identifying with now has not only been IMHO unfair to me, but grossly unfair to entire regions and industries. I only think they can pretend it's really fair out of either gross stupidity, gross malice, or a combination of the two. I could respond in depth, but until next weekend I am going to be too damn busy working the bilge pumps to do so.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/27/2013 13:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Rawls lost out to the 'group' vs 'group' wing of the left. Your group is seen as having advantages over other groups.

I don't justify it. I do note how prevalent it is and how much work we have to do to create a new narrative to displace that one, which is indeed hurting you and others Snowy.
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 14:26 Comments || Top||

#5  What new vision of Justice can we offer?

None. As one of my law professors said, If you want justice go to heaven; if you want a decision go to court.

Justice like fairness ultimately is ultimately a vision, like truth or beauty. And it is also in the eye of the beholder. As Kennedy, not the first, said life isn't fair. Some how in the 50 years after his death we have become convinced that it should be and that we can make it so. And that we can stop the rising of the oceans and heal the planet.

A good look at the plusses and minuses of fairness is DHFischer's Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States . After reading it, I was convinced that I am a freedom guy.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/27/2013 16:46 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm with you, NS. Now: how do we reach the large portion of our populace that isn't?
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 17:48 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't know.

I often wonder if the 17th century was one of those magical moments in history whose benefits we live off of until they're gone. There is a dwindling constituency for individual responsibility and accountability. The government is all too ready to make excuses for not trying so that it can enslave capture dependent voters. We are all too ready to sacrifice a liittle freedom for no secuirty.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/27/2013 18:42 Comments || Top||

#8  I haven't entirely lost hope in the young adult generation. But we do have to find ways to hook them and this last election go-round was a textbook study in how not to do that.
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 19:23 Comments || Top||

#9  We do have some good folks on message,Rand Paul, Tom Cruz, Marco Rubio. They just need not to turn into dealmakers or clowns like Boehner, McConnell and Christie. And there is always the instinct of the young to reject the orthodoxy of their elders. But it is expecting a lot to choose freedom when so much "security" is being offered in exchange. I fear it won't happen until it is clear to the blind what an empty offer it is.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/27/2013 20:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Great essay, lotp.

I would argue that the pursuit of Fairness is what has driven down the Black middle class, consigned waay too many people to poverty (Go Great Society!) and made our public schools what they are today. It all sounds so appealing, but if you look at places where that game has been run, the fUSSR, China, Europe to varying degrees, the outcome is not pleasant, by which I mean piles of corpses, economic stagnation, gulags and general misery. Still, it sounds good.

There is no question Obama & Co did a great marketing job. Lotp is correct we need to present a better vision and do a better job of selling it.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2013 23:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
YouTube: Grimsson Iceland president 'Let banks go bankrupt'
Posted by: tipper || 01/27/2013 07:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But that's capitalism and we can't have that!?!

Especially in the west.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/27/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran unveils machine for amputating thieves’ fingers
We contacted many of our Observers in Iran to ask them about this machine. Some of them had heard about it before, but many discovered its existence through these morbid photographs, which were reportedly taken on Thursday. According to the INSA press agency, the man shown getting his finger cut off was charged with robbery and adultery by a court in the southwestern city of Shiraz. He was also accused of being at the head of a criminal organisation. On top of losing one of his fingers, he was sentenced to three years in prison and 99 whip lashes.

No independent witnesses were able to recount the circumstances under which this amputation took place. Four photos of the scene published by the press agency were widely relayed on social media networks. Strangely enough, the man’s face did not betray any signs of suffering in the photos, though it is possible that he might have been drugged.

Following the amputation, Ali Alghasi, Shiraz’s public prosecutor, announced that sentences against criminals would become increasingly severe, without explaining why.

On January 20, two thieves were hanged in public in Tehran. They had been caught thanks to video filmed by a street surveillance camera that showed them robbing a man at knifepoint. They had stolen the equivalent of 20 euros.

Amputation, whipping, and even death by stoning are all legal forms of punishment under Iran’s Islamic penal code.
Posted by: tipper || 01/27/2013 07:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Next they will invent the Citroen.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 8:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I foresee problems with the union of professional executioners. Fingers are just the beginning, next it will be hands, and finally, heads.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 10:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I foresee problems with the union of professional executioners. Fingers are just the beginning, next it will be hands, and finally, heads.

I think the one for heads is called a guillotine, Mike. ;-) But then, isn't the one for fingers formally known as a cigar cutter?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 16:38 Comments || Top||

#4  If protesting the violation of human rights would get a tongue snipped, I can think of a few nominees we should send as ambassadors ; D
Posted by: Kojo Wholuse5660 || 01/27/2013 16:57 Comments || Top||

#5  I think the one for heads is called a guillotine, Mike. ;-) But then, isn't the one for fingers formally known as a cigar cutter?
Actually, I have a 'one size-fits all' tool stashed in the garage. I call it Mr. Stihl.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/27/2013 18:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, I have a 'one size-fits all' tool stashed in the garage. I call it Mr. Stihl.

A chainsaw would do nicely. :-)

Re: the guillotine. I met someone back in the 80's who had worked in the oil fields in Saudi Arabia. He lived in a compound largely sealed off from the kingdom. But one day he was in the city when someone tried to pick his pocket. The coppers nabbed the perp and the police captain offered this guy his sword to cut off the perp's right hand right there and then. The guy froze so the captain cut off the perp's right hand himself in front of this guy.

I wasn't there so I can't vouch for the facts. But something tells me that they don't use a guillotine....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 20:49 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
More Mayhem in the mountains of Sinaloa and Durango

For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

At least five individuals have been killed in drug related violence in the border area between Sinaloa and Durango state since last Sunday according to Mexican news accounts.

A news report posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily said shootouts in Dan Dimas and Corcordia municipalities have paralyzed some areas. The shootouts were described in the article as alleged since the Sinaloa Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE), or state attorney general, Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez, has yet to report on any incident.

The article said that a rumor of a shootout near the village of Los Angeles, which is about 30 minutes from Concordia had been going around in the municipality since last week. Reaction from residents has been to pull children from school zone Zona Escolar 046.

The president of Concordia municipality, José Eligio Medina Rios in a press interview dismissed reports of any shootouts, and claimed communications with officials from San Dimas municipality ruled out any shootout.

However, a report which appeared last Thursday in El Siglo de Torreon news daily said that at least five individuals have been killed in shootings in the mountain region near Concordia since last week.

Last week three unidentified men were found shot to death in a Hummer SUV in the village of La Petaca in Concordia municipality. Three more unidentified individuals were reportedly shot to death in the village of La Escondida, also in Concordia.

The El Siglo de Torreon report also said that a shootout between drug gang members, presumably members of the Pacifico cartel, and a Mexican Army unit took place in the border area of Sinaloa and Durango states between Sanalona municipality in Sinaloa and Tamazula municipality Durango, which claimed the life of one unidentified individual and wounded two others. The report went on to claim that the unidentified nephew of the late drug capo Ignacio Coronel was among the wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

The source claiming the shootout was identified as Moises Melo, or General de Division Moises Melo Garcia, the recently promoted commander of the Mexican 9th Military Zone.

Residents of Concordia municipality are understandably nervous. Last Christmas Eve 14 individuals were murdered in El Platanar Ontiveros in Concordia municipality by a local drug gang after a Mexican Army unit posted in the village had left the village undefended to go on a counternarcotics operation.

San Dimas municipality has seen its share of drug related violence in the last two years, where several homes had been torched as a punitive measure by drug gangs.

Also, several drug and gang related shootings have been reported in Sinaloa state in Los Mochis, Culican well to the north and in the port city of Mazatlan.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 01/27/2013 01:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Topless protesters take on elite Davos forum
[SUNHERALD] Three women angry over sexism and male domination of the world economy
The titty thing seems to be Femen's schtick.
ripped off their shirts and tried to force their way into a gathering of corporate elites in a Swiss resort.
So all of three womyn show up and they make headlines because they take their shirts off. So we have an entire story dedicated to a total of six boobies.
Three boobies, actually. And six breasts.
Predictably, they failed. The ubiquitous and huge security force policing the World Economic Forum in Davos carried the women away, kicking and screaming.
"Corporal Renaud, carry the milk duds away!"
"But, sir! They're kicking and screaming!"
"Ignore it, Corporal. It's probably just the cold!"

The women, from Ukrainian feminist activist group Femen, scaled a fence and set off pink flares in the protest Saturday. Their chests were painted with "SOS Davos," as they sought to call attention to poverty of women around the world.
"Our titties represent the poverty of womyn around the world!"
Critics of the Davos forum say the business and political leaders at the gathering spend too little time doing concrete things to solve the world's problems and help the needy.
Luckily for the rest of mankind.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Noone's stopping women setting up businesses except women.

In fact in the sexist U.K. women get all sorts of extra help denied to those with a penis (according to PoMo fools, gender is a choice so my business applies anyway just to be annoying).
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/27/2013 8:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, here's hoping they got some beads for their trouble.
Posted by: charger || 01/27/2013 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Headline "Topless protesters found in Brainless forum"?

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/27/2013 13:02 Comments || Top||

#4  If any guys (outside of California) got nekkid to protest anything they would most likely find themselves arrested and at worst listed as a sex offender. After awhile, the getting nekkid protests get a little boring.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 14:47 Comments || Top||

#5  If your cause requires nudity to generate publicity you probably need to re-think your cause.
Posted by: Muggsy Elmens2506 || 01/27/2013 17:02 Comments || Top||

#6  That depends on the context. It being very bad luck to see your grandmother naked, Liberian women were able to use the threat of disrobing to good effect at a stalled peace conference.
Posted by: James || 01/27/2013 20:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Regarding naked Liberian grandmothers. Shucks, all I have to do to convince my family to get moving is to threaten to strip naked-as-an-egg and start singing....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 21:02 Comments || Top||

#8  It's the singing that does it Mike, I suspect. LOL!
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 21:19 Comments || Top||


Africa North
30 killed, over 300 injured in clashes after death sentence over Egypt's Port Said massacre
[Xinhua] Up to 30 people were killed and over 300 others injured in clashes that erupted Saturday outside Port Said prison between security forces and family members of 21 convicts who were sentenced to death over the Port Said massacre, state TV reported.
In the 21st century there are places where a perp's clan can try to overrun the cop shoppe.
"The Ministry of Health sent air ambulances to Port Said to move the seriously wounded people to hospitals in Cairo," the ministry spokesman Ahmed Omar told Xinhua.
[BANG!]
"Aaaaiiiieee!"
"Step away from the police station witcher hands up!"

After the Port Said Criminal Court on Saturday ordered death sentence for 21 defendants over the massacre, which killed more than 70 in February last year, families of the convicts violently attempted to break into the prison where they are detained.
"Youse can't do dat to Mahmoud!"
The prison area was engulfed by clouds of smoke as furious families of the convicts set fire to trees and gardens attached to the prison and nearby police station. Security forces responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.
"Arrrr! We're burning yer stuff!"
"Ummm... That's a tree."
"Corporal!"
"Sir!"
"Gas them!"

Seventy-three defendants, including nine top security officials, were arrested after tragic riots at Port Said Stadium following a soccer match between Port Said's al-Masry and Cairo's al-Ahly teams.
If they hadn't been selling beer in the beer joints that never woulda happened. I and the San Francisco city administration are sure of that.
The Egyptian interior ministry, for its part, on Saturday asked people in a statement to keep away from the areas of violent clashes, stressing that it would not give up its duty of protecting peoples' lives and the state premises.
"Corporal!"
"Sir!"
"those guys are interfering with our duty to protect people's lives! Kill them all!"

The army forces were deployed in Port Said to restore stability, official news agency MENA reported, adding that the Railways Association has decided to halt trains from entering Port Said.
"Hello? Is this the railroad? This is Corporal Mahmoud, from the army! Stop the trains coming to Port Said! Have them turn around and go back!"
In a statement, Egyptian army's chief of general staff Ousamah Rousdy called the army soldiers to stick to self-restraint in dealing with citizens.
"Corporal!"
"Sir!"
"Try not to kill too many of them."

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
The ministry of electricity and energy appealed to the people in Port Said to guard electricity companies against any aggression.
"Don't burn down the generators!"
"Arrrr! Why not!"
"You won't have any electricity."

"Rioters have already damaged some equipment of the companies, and if this continues, Port Said will be covered with darkness," the minister said in a statement.
"How bad is it?"
"I think we can still get about 30 volts out!"

While the situation was inflamed in Port Said, thousands of Cairo-based soccer fans dubbed "Ultras Ahlawy" expressed overwhelming happiness after Saturday's verdict.
"Yeah! Hang 'em all!"
The fans, who had vowed earlier to die for the retaliation for their murdered fellows, celebrated the court decision in front of their club and then moved to Tahrir square.
"We're Numbah One! We're Numbah One!"
Elsewhere, some people headed to the house of President Mohamed Morsi at Egypt's northeastern city of Zagazig in Sharqiya Governorate to celebrate the verdict, which they described as " historical."
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Jeebus. Detroit's looking better.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to retire
[Washington Post] Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will not seek reelection in 2014, he announced Saturday.
He's the senator-for-life from Iowa. He'll be 75 next election, which would make him 81 when his next term expired. He ran his first, unsuccessful, race in 1972, and he worked as an aide to a Democrat congressman before that. He was elected to Congress in 1975, which means he'll have been warming his seat for forty solid years.
"It's just time to step aside," Harkin, 73, told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named, noting that he would be 81 by the end of another term.
I just said that.
Multiple Democratic aides have confirmed the decision, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has issued a statement.
"We neither confirm nor deny..."
Harkin's decision makes him the third senator up for reelection this cycle to announce his retirement. Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) have both announced they will not seek another term.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Harkin, Dodd and Kerry, the three biggest commie lovers in the Senate, out. Unless the dems can get Sean Penn, Jeff Immelt and George Soros elected to the Senate, an era is over...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/27/2013 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Thought he came with the Senate building--a permanent fixture.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 9:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Add Schumer, Durbin, Feinstein, to the list. There are probably a few more who could be added. Some of these senators are up for election in 2014.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 9:30 Comments || Top||

#4  another "Viet Nam War air combat Vet" liar removed too. *spit*
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Would it be too crass to ad pooping on their faces?
Posted by: Jonter Phuting8846 || 01/27/2013 13:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Wish I could do that to Harkin. He's been Senators longer than I've been alive. I'd be optimistic, but Des Moines is stuck on stupid. So I look for a hand-picked successor in 2014 to be elected.
Posted by: Charles || 01/27/2013 14:22 Comments || Top||


Boehner full of regret over 'fiscal-cliff' moves
[THEHILL] Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner
... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans...
(R-Ohio) is sharing his regrets about his "fiscal-cliff" strategy, less than a month after the House bitterly swallowed a last-minute deal hatched in the Senate.
Apparently it doesn't make him feel any real shame, otherwise he'd have stepped down as Speaker, maybe even from the House.
In a private speech to the Ripon Society on Tuesday, Boehner said that he should have taken a different course after the November election by immediately demanding that the Senate produce a bill to avert the worst parts of a combination of tax increases and spending cuts that were due to hit on Jan. 1.
The Dems don't spend a lot of time worrying about Publican "demands."
Instead, Boehner delivered a formal speech at the Capitol on the day after President B.O. won a second term, in which he offered a major Republican concession -- new tax revenue as part of a broader fiscal deal.
"Hokay. We surrender! Whatever principles we had are now abandoned!"
"Looking back, what I should have done the day after the election was to make it clear the House has passed a bill to extend all of the current tax rates, the House has passed a bill to replace the sequester with cuts in mandatory spending, and the Senate ought to do its work," Boehner said. "We're ready, able and willing to work with the Senate as soon as they produce a bill. It should have been what I said. You know, again, hindsight is 20-20."
Shut up and step down.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He feels regret. And he will continue to feel regret every time he does it.

Posted by: DarthVader || 01/27/2013 2:20 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: junkiron || 01/27/2013 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Did he cry? If so he may get a guest spot on Oprah.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm eagerly awaiting future mea culpas from Boehner for his upcoming rollovers on scamnesty and a national sales tax.

Posted by: charger || 01/27/2013 12:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Beautiful, junkiron.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah r-i-i-i-ght, dey said the same thingy to me about how to pronounce "ARKANSAS".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 20:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Do the honorable thing.
Posted by: Threremble and Company4423 || 01/27/2013 22:07 Comments || Top||


Tin-Foil Hat Time? Or Gust Front?
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gust Front!
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 01/27/2013 3:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The draft had some unseen benefits, but when fired upon they fired back.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 4:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't any appointment to a 'leadership post' in the US military subject to confirmation.

Couldn't a senator apply a reverse 'litmus test' just to quell these rumours?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/27/2013 4:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Can't say I'm surprised.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2013 7:40 Comments || Top||

#5  A close examination of replacements might be revealing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 8:37 Comments || Top||

#6  It's not the leaders, but the ranks that are important. Why do you think they keep weapons in locked arms rooms and the basic load miles away while in garrison? Ever hear of 'fragging'?

Isn't any appointment to a 'leadership post' in the US military subject to confirmation.

Only specific General Officer billets. Otherwise assignments are per the system which is predicated upon the authority of the Secretary of the respective service. Commissioned appointments and promotions are subject to Congressional approval.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/27/2013 9:14 Comments || Top||

#7  There is a slight bit of paranoia reflected in the article. I'm not saying it couldn't happen. The Bonus Army (WWI vets and others) occupied Anacostia Flats in DC in 1932. They marched on Washington to try to obtain promised WWI benefits. The DC police fired on them and two marchers were killed. Hoover ordered MacArthur (Patton and Eisenhower were also involved) to march on them. Fifty-five marchers were injured and 135 arrested.

I would find it hard to believe that Obama would be so stupid as to embark on such attacks on Americans. Americans do not tolerate such naked aggression very well. I don't think many in the military would obey such orders that are clearly unconstitutional. I think many police officers in fly-over land would not obey such orders. You would have an insurrection that would be very costly and would likely go on forever. Like many insurrections, one does not know where they are going to end when they begin. I doubt anyone would be so foolish, but then again one never knows.

If one considers the difficulty we are having in Afghanistan and we had in Iraq, I think any moves against Americans as mentioned in the article would be a huge mistake with many unintended consequences. Consider what happened to despots such as Musollini, Kaddafi and Saddam for example.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 17:17 Comments || Top||

#8  IIRC MacArthur argued that the Bonus Marchers were devol into an potens existential,
"revolutionary" threat agz the US Govt, hence the need to send in the troops to clean 'em out at bayonet point.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Three-day sit-in for fair voters verification begins in Karachi
[Dawn] Different political and religious parties belonging to opposition started a three-day sit-in on Saturday outside the office of the Provincial Election Commission Sindh to demand fair process of voters' verification under army's supervision in Bloody Karachi.
But, really, there's no firm evidence of voter fraud, so they really don't need voter verification.
Announcement of the sit-in was made on Wednesday, when different opposition leaders assailed the election commission for not implementing the Supreme Court's directives regarding voters verification under army's supervision and delimitation of constituencies in the metropolis.
[Sniff!] It's just an effort to suppress the Punjab vote.
Addressing the rally today, Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI) Bloody Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti thanked the participating political and religious leaders. He said they all have gathered for seeking free and fair elections and peace in Bloody Karachi.

Sirajul Haq of JI said all participating parties will also stage a sit-in outside the Parliament house if the SC order is not implemented.

Gulzar Ahmed Soomro of Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STPP) said that politicizing of voter verification process would usurp people's freedom of choice.

Speakers said the sit-in will continue on Sunday and Monday, adding that it would end when the Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP) will ensure presence of army personnel during the process of voter verification.

Leaders and activists belonging to JI, PML-N, PTI, JUI-F, SUP, STPP, Tanzimul Ikhwan, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Sunni Tehrik,
...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities...
Awami Tehrik, JUP and JUI-S participated in the rally including minority leader Michal Jaed.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
has claimed the ECP was not being allowed to play an effective role in Bloody Karachi.

Earlier on Saturday, a meeting of party's Sindh leaders, chaired by Sharif, had to hold a march to demonstrate against the obstacles that were being created in the way of the election commission's work in Bloody Karachi.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Who would have guessed we'd need to look to Karachi to learn about elections.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/27/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - LTC(Ret) Dave Grossman
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds.

I might change the analogy presented slightly. There are sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves. Put in a category in of "rabid or vicious dogs." This last category has to be put down.

It seems the sheep tend to want to force everyone to become sheep. That won't work and is naive because of the first statement above.

Prisons seem to be school grounds for criminals. Some of them become more adept criminals as a result of their stints in prison. Some make use of prison exercise facilities to bulk up and become far more dangerous than when they came in. They then go through the "catch and release" program and are released on society. Police, as well as the rest of us, need to be up to the task of coping with these hardened criminals and doing what is necessary to survive an encounter.

Interestingly, little is mentioned in the wake of the Sandy Hook murders about an earlier gruesome Connecticut crime which was committed by two career criminals. Dr. William Petit's wife and two daughters were murdered in Connecticut a few year ago. The criminals murdered, raped, and set on fire the family. Dr. Petit was the lone survivor and he was severely beaten as I recall. Suppose the family was sheepdogs and had been trained and armed? Maybe they could have survived. It seems the memories of sheep are short.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 10:42 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Two Iraq Soldiers Dead, Three Kidnapped in Fallujah
[An Nahar] Gunmen killed two Iraqi soldiers and kidnapped three others in a series of shootings on Saturday, amid heightened tensions after troops killed seven anti-government protesters a day earlier.

Iraqi police Colonel Mahmud Khalaf said gunnies separately attacked checkpoints in the east, west and north of the town, leaving two soldiers dead, one maimed, and three kidnapped.

In one incident, gunnies attacked a checkpoint on Fallujah's eastern outskirts, killing one soldier. In the town's north, one soldier was killed and one maimed.

In western Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
Death Eaters broke into a small military outpost and kidnapped all three soldiers stationed there, Khalaf said.

He added that police found the vehicle used in the kidnapping, but had no information about the three soldiers.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Africa North
Egypt National Defense Council Calls for Dialogue
Dialogue will fix the problem. It aways does, especially if the participants wear top hats and those marvelous striped pants with their morning coats. ...What? No, I do not think there is an aspect of the cargo cultish to my previous statement. The very idea!
[An Nahar] Egypt's national defense council headed by President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday appealed for calm and called for a national dialogue as deadly festivities raged.

In a statement read out on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
by Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsud, the council called for dialogue with "independent national figures" to settle political differences and agree on a mechanism for an upcoming parliamentary election.

It also condemned violence that has left nearly 40 people dead in two days of festivities in several parts of the country, calling on political forces "to maintain the peaceful nature of expression".

Nine people were killed on Friday as Egyptians erupted into the streets to demand change on the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Dress properly and Dr. John Frumm will bring peace, prosperity and a fine lunch.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "National dialogue" = stall for time.

Apparently the Brotherhood's backers have not been prompt with their... support.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 13:13 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea Readies Nuclear Test
A U.S. research institute devoted to analysis of North Korea says the country's nuclear site is in a high state of readiness to conduct another nuclear test. Joel Wit, the founder of 38 North website, said satellite images show that such a test could be conducted within weeks if ordered by Pyongyang.

"What we see is a lot of activity at the site and it's easy for us to see that because there has been snow there and you can see that the roads that are in use are not covered with snow, nor are a lot of the footpaths in the area near the test tunnel," he said.

Wit said that satellite photos taken on January 4 also show many North Koreans lined up near the entrance to the test tunnel which, he says, could be armed guards. In addition, there are a lot of buses and other vehicles in the area, which he says is unusual in the winter.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Norks saw O projected weakness so ratcheting up intimidation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/27/2013 10:16 Comments || Top||

#2  AK gonna catch the first launch AP?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/27/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I expect a strongly worded memo from the UN at any moment. How do you think they'll make it Israel's fault?
Posted by: AlanC || 01/27/2013 11:26 Comments || Top||

#4  OTOH DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS. DEFENCENET > DID NORTH KOREA TEST A SATELLITE ROCKET, OR A CARRIER-KILLER [for China]?

Lack of accuracy = resort to NucWarheads.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Misrata council member murdered
[Libya Herald] A member of Misrata local council was murdered today, Saturday, as he was leaving a city centre mosque after Dhuhr prayers. According to eyewitnesses, two men in a Hyundai Sonata car shot at Sheikh Mohamed Ben Othman at around 1.30pm as he left the Ras Amar mosque. The mosque is by the main polyclinic, Mujama Ayadat, in central Misrata.

It is the fourth significant killing in the city in just under a fortnight, and the third in three days. On 15 January, the imam of Misrata's Omar Ibn Khatab mosque, Sheikh Fakhri Hussein Jahani was killed when a grenade was thrown at him as he was leaving the mosque after Maghreb (sunset) prayers.

On Wednesday night, shortly after 10 pm, three grenades were thrown from a passing car at a security building in the town, killing one man, named as Wahib Karim, and wounding two others, one of them seriously. The building serves as a joint command and communications centre for the SSC, the Libya Shield and local security forces.

Shortly afterwards, a police officer, named as Walid Shahoot was killed when his patrol was shot at in the city.

Earlier this month two Egyptian Christians were killed when a Coptic church in Dafniya outside Misrata was bombed.

The latest victim who represented the Azzarouq district, had been active on the council and was involved in particular in the reconciliation process. He was a member of the Moslem Brüderbund.

His killing has stunned Misratans. The city has until now has been a model of law and order in Libya and Ben Othman was regarded as a conscientious and hardworking figure, although respect for Misrata local council has been falling in recent weeks because of splits and its limited achievements. The head of the local council, Salim Beit Almal, also a member of the Brotherhood, resigned earlier this month, the second council leader to quit in 11 months.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: Politix
Ballot Integrity In the State of Washington
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
No Turkish connection to new found weapon cargo
[Yemen Post] When Yemen authorities reported last Thursday they discovered yet another weapon cargo bearing the made in Turkey seal, allegations immediately resurfaced that Ankara was illegally exporting weapons to Yemen.

A closer look at the evidences paint an entirely different picture.

The shipment which was registered under "plastic goods" was concealing a large amount of traumatic weapons. The entire concealment -- guns and riffles -
Ok, definition time: what is the difference between guns and rifles?
Actually, we used to be pretty meticulous when I was in the Army about the difference between a "rifle" and a "gun." A rifle was what we lugged around in basic training -- in my day, an M14, later the much lighter M16. A gun was that big, long, tubular thing hanging off the front of a tank, or an artillery piece. Then when I went into artillery we learned that a "gun" is the big, long thing on a tank, or an antitank piece, or those things in the turrets of battleships, while modern-day artillerists fired "howitzers" or more generally "pieces." That sort of semantic finickiness is probably gone from the Army now, swept away with the correct spelling of "fuze".
cannot under international law and regulations be described as a weapon shipment since none of the devices found have the ability to fire live ammunitions, only rubber bullets.

Traumatic weapons are often used for crowd control, self defense or training purposes.

Russia for example is well-known for "arming" its security forces with traumatic guns and riffles when dealing with riots.

Moreover, traumatic weapons benefit from relax import-export regulations and therefore can easily be bought by individuals or companies and then loaded and shipped internationally without raising much concerns from the Customs authorities.

That being said, a Yemen security expert explained that although the cargo found in Aden could not in its current shape be labeled or described as weapons, clever engineering could turn them into lethal instruments.

And while Saba - Yemen News Agency - quoted Mohammed Ziman, Head of the Customs Authority as saying "According to preliminary information, the cargo included about 3780 machine guns, T14 type," it failed to explain that the weapons were non lethal and perfectly conform to international trading standards.

Turkey Ambassador Fazli Corman who upon being notified by Yemen officials of the discovery of yet another shipment of weapons, bearing a relation to Turkey, was keen to offer his support and absolute cooperation. He flew on Friday to Aden where he met local officials and personally inspected the ship.

Ambassador Corman noted that while the Yemeni authorities could rest assured of his support, he felt the two months delay in between the arrival of the ship to Aden and the inspection could now prove detrimental to forensic experts and therefore impede the inquiry.

Ambassador Corman also deplored the "hasty conclusions" some members of the press felt compel to publish, stressing that none of the evidence found so far could in any way shape or form involve Turkey in a smuggling plot.

Security experts close to the matter pointed to the troubling possibility of Yemen being turned into a weapon smuggling hub for criminal organizations or terror groups in the region. By its geography and 2000Km of coast, Yemen sits at a crossroad between the Middle East, Africa and Asia, a perfect transit area.

"The weapons found are very unlikely aimed at the Yemeni market. Yemen has one of the world highest ratio of weapons per inhabitant, and traditionally Yemenis go for much powerful firearms; small hand guns are not your typical weapon of choice around here," said a retired security officer.

But what is now puzzling experts is the idea that criminals could be trying to turn traumatic weapons into live ammunitions-shooting firearms, using their toy-looking exterior to pass them off as such, fooling foreign countries into allowing them into their territory.

An officer recently retired from the Central Security Forces said that in her mind there was no doubt the shipment was either destined to be transported by road across Yemen's borders to another region altogether or meant for local terror group such as al-Qaeda.

"The amount of small guns does not fit the militia theory - individuals in Yemen theorized Turkey is arming factions in Yemen to spread instability - but could be used by Islamic fascisti to carry out an attack or infiltrate a public area without alerting the attention of the authorities."

Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  but what about "riffles"? Aren't those chips?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 12:02 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Ten Afghan police officers killed
Ten police officers, including the local counter-terrorism chief, were killed in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. Shortly after 5 p.m. (1230 GMT) a man driving a motorbike detonated a large bomb at a busy roundabout in the north city of Kunduz near a group of police officers, provincial police chief spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said.

“As a result of a suicide attack 10 policemen were killed, including the head of the traffic department and the head of the counter-terrorism office,” said Hussaini.

Four civilians and five other police officers were wounded in the bombing, he said.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack but militants, including the Taliban, are active in the area.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


#2  No one commented on remote detonation of explosive initiators using RF? Shoot, I was hoping to interest someone from DARPA.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 21:07 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Patriot missile defense battery operational
NATO says the first of six Patriot missile defense batteries deployed to southern Turkey to intercept possible rocket fired from Syria has been declared operational. The alliance’s supreme commander Adm. James Stavridis said Saturday the deployment represented “a clear demonstration of the agility and flexibility of NATO forces and of our willingness to defend allies who face threats.”

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are providing two batteries each of the latest version of the U.S.-made Patriots, which is optimized for intercepting incoming rockets.

The first battery to become operational was a Dutch unit. It will help to protect the city of Adana, NATO said. The rest of the units are expected to become fully operational in the next few days.

Syria has not fired any of its surface-to-surface missiles at Turkey during its nearly two-year civil war. Its government has described the NATO deployment as a provocation.
Okay, you're provoked...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ummm... anyone count the number of days this took? I think it was 9. Which is worrisome.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "a clear demonstration of the agility and flexibility of NATO forces and of our willingness to defend allies who face threats."

So what exactly are the “threats” that would justify NATO deployment of Patriot missile batteries? Why it’s to intercept “possible” rockets fired from Syria you silly goose. OK, except that Assad hasn’t threatened, has absolutely no desire, nor is there any strategic advantage to expanding operations into Turkey. In fact, when a Turkish aircraft was downed Damascus nearly shit itself apologizing. Moreover, they don’t have to. The Syrian forces have been mostly successful in pounding the ratlines out of Turkey on their side of the border anyway. It all may seem a bit counter intuitive until to recall Hillary’s Smart Power admonishing. What does it matter?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/27/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  OK, except that Assad hasn't threatened

Actually, he has. It's essentially the Syrian, (likely) non-nuke, version of the 'Samson Option'.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 20:47 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Nuggets From The Urdu Press
These nuggets are culled from the Urdu press. They are summarised here without comment. Absurd or ridiculous, tft takes no responsibility for them
In which a blockbuster is sold, women are paid, a handsome bribe fails...and the Imran factor is declared dead. Sing loudly hosannas, dear Reader, for all that is good on this final Sunday in January.
Orya Maqbul Jan on democracy
Writing in Dunya famous columnist and intellectual Orya Maqbul Jan said that interest-based economy and democracy were two evils that looked pretty on surface but were ugly in essence. Their exterior was magical but their interior was blood-stained, savage and disgusting. They rode together and could not last without each other's help. The media, which is the bought slave of these two wolves, presents itself as a sheep to the nation but in fact it was a Dracula clad in fine attire. The people became ensnared in their magic and fell victim to their bloody fangs. Under democracy the evil of trickle-down effect spread by capitalism fills the coffers of the rich who are then supposed to throw some crumbs to the populace.
Sounds like a blockbuster film proposal -- but we definitely want a Marianne type to play Democracie.
Tahirul Qadri bribed women with Rs 2,000 each
Quoted in Dunya Sajid Mir leader of Markazi Jamaat Ahle Hadith stated that Tahirul Qadri was put forward as a pawn by the US and UK while the military and the establishment were trying to damage the political base of Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
in Punjab. His long marchers were propelled by bribe. He gave Rs 2,000 each to all women who attended his rally in Lahore. He added that MQM and PMLQ were also filling Qadri's treasury with their funds so that he can go on disrupting politics. After the death of 'Imran factor' Qadri was the new pawn placed in the field of politics.

Tahirul Qadri enemy of democracy
Quoted in Jang Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that Qadri had entered Pakistain as an enemy of democracy. Fazlur Rehman of JUIF said that Qadri was a doctor who had come to cut up the belly of democracy but he (Fazl) will not allow him to do that.

Story of two Tahirs
Writing in Dunya Nazeer Naji stated that once adviser to governor Punjab under Musharraf, Allama Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi went to see his namesake Allama Tahirul Qadri to tell him that General Musharraf looked at Qadri with kindness after receiving a gracious letter of extreme unction from Allama Dr Qadri. The meeting was most propitious because when Ashrafi came to his car his drivers had received expensive cloth for their suits and large bundle of gifts for Ashrafi had already been placed in his car. After this, letters were exchanged between Musharraf and Qadri but after some time Musharraf turned his attention elsewhere, whereupon Qadri wrote to him saying he would not mind becoming head of the Council of Islamic Ideology. But Musharraf did not show any reaction.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad great man
Columnist and anchor Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that Qazi Hussain Ahmad
... third president (1987--2009) of the PakJamaat-e-Islami. Qazi was also head of the Muttahidah Majlis-e-Amal until his ego became bigger than the organization. Qazi is what is known as a fiery preacher, which means he has lots of volume, a good delivery, and not a lot of reverence for coherence. He was the patron of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Rasool Sayyaf and Osama bin Laden during the war against the Soviets. He used to recommend drinking camel's urine to maintain good health before his kidneys started to go...
was the greatest Jamaat Islami leader after Maulana Maududi. His moderation was so touching that journalist Suhail Warraich, who was critical of Jamaat, got Qazi Hussain Ahmad to solemnize his marriage. After Musharraf fired Nawaz Sharif's government, he called on Qazi to join him but Qazi was not forthcoming with enthusiasm. In 2001 Hamid Mir went to Tehran with Qazi and met Hekmatyar who was then staying there. Qazi was critical of Hekmatyar who defended himself with deference. Qazi told him that it was wrong to start infighting among mujahideen and it was important to reach out to Northern Alliance. Qazi declined to become chief of the Jamaat for the fourth time in 2008.

What is Minhajul Koran?
Daily Jang published a profile of Tahirul Qadri's organization Minhajul Koran saying Tahirul Qadri and six of his family controlled it. Out of the Board of Directors three were approached but they were not aware they were members of the Board. Justice (Retd) Sheikh Riaz Hussain said he was a member a long time ago and Prof Humayun Ehsan said he did not know that he was on the Board. MNA Farooq Amjad Mir of Tehrik Insaf said he had resigned from the Board of Minhaj but did not know he was still a member. Qadri's two sons Hasan and Husain Muhiuddin hold important offices in Minhaj. Muhiuddin was the name of the famous mystic Abdul Qadir Jilani.

CM Hoti and fourth marriage
Reported in Dunya Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Amir Azam Hoti had married his fourth wife Humaira without the permission of his third wife Shamim Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
who had demanded payment of Rs 11 crore. In one court Hoti had pledged to pay Rs 11 crore to Shamim Kayani and give her a house in Islamabad in six months while in another court he had denied that he was married to her. Meanwhile Shamim Kayani has told the court that she fears for her life.

Hameed Gul says India about to fall
Reported in Dunya an organization called Kashmire Liberation Front was demonstrating in front of the Islamabad Press Club demanding liberation of Kashmire from India and its revival as a sovereign state. During the demonstration retired ISI boss Hameed Gul passed by, at which the protesters raised slogans against Pakistain too. Hameed Gul went into the crowd and advised them to raise the slogan of joining Pakistain because India was about to fall.

Only relationship with India: enmity!
Daily Dunya reported that retired generals of Pakistain army said rude things about India. Aslam Beg
...occasionally incoherent retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army, succeeding the creepy General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter was rubbed out died in an air crash in 1988. The general was involved up to his hairy ears in the Mehran bank scandal, shuffling millions in public money to buy or lease politicians, and is believed one of the prime movers in the sale of Pak nuclear technology to Iran. He ranks second only to Hamid Gul in the volume and flavor of his anti-Western vitriol..
said if India was feeling indisposed then Pakistain had the right medicine for her cure (tabiyat theek kar dain gai). The generals said India had two sets of teeth, one for showing and one for eating and that it had not accepted Pakistain as a state. Mirza Aslam Beg said India was shooting our soldiers across the border while some Paks were doing japhian (embraces) of amn ki asha (hope for peace) with Indians. He said Pakistain could accept not India as a Most Favoured Nation because India still had to decide the issue of Kashmire. Hameed Gul said the only rishta (relationship) with India was that of enmity.

PMLQ richest, PPP poorest!
Reported in Jang the Election Commission made public the funds notified by the political parties. PMLQ was the richest with 5 crore in the bank, the PPP poorest with only Rs 4 lakh. PMLN had Rs 3 crore, MQM and Insaf had one crore each.

Balochistan as two-nation province
Quoted in Dunya leader of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Mehmood Khan Achakzai stated that Pakistain must accept the prior right of the Baloch over all natural resources of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
. He said the Balochistan issue would be resolved when the existence of two nations - Baloch and Pashtun - was accepted there through a constitutional arrangement. He said the chief minister's post should alternate between the two nations.

Leftist Pervaiz Rasheed and the Quaid
Writing in Dunya famous columnist Haroon Rasheed stated that Senator Pervaiz Rasheed of PMLN was an old leftist who had found a niche in Nawaz Sharif's party while forgetting that Moslem League is a party of Quaid-e-Azam whom he never quotes. He was pulling the PMLN in the direction of liberal-leftists while more loyal Moslem Leaguers like Raja Zafrul Haq had receded to the background. Now the latest lesson Pervaiz Rasheed had taught Nawaz Sharif was that he should get the old leftists on board to benefit from their strength. When the traditional voters of PMLN discover that the party has compromised on its fundamental values they will stop supporting it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  tabiyat theek kar dain gai

Pretty much.
Also the question of why India is such an opportunity for Radical Dentistry is answered.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:39 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Algeria attack mastermind targets Maghreb
Useful background on the gentleman in question.
[MAGHAREBIA] The criminal mastermind of the Algerian gas facility attack is well known to Maghreb security officials.

The In Amenas siege that left nearly 40 civilians dead last week is the latest terror operation by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, also known as Khaled Abou El Abbas or Laaouar.

For nearly 20 years, the one-eyed terrorist has left a bloody trail across Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Niger and Mali.

Born in Ghardaia in 1972, Belmokhtar fought in Afghanistan before returning to Algeria in 1993, where he joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). He eventually linked up with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC), which became al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

In recent years, Belmokhtar took charge of AQIM's El Moulethemine Brigade. Amid leadership disputes and internal quarrelling over ransom payments, he broke away from AQIM last fall, while still affirming loyalty to the global al-Qaeda network.

In a video released January 17th, Laaouar claimed credit for the Algeria attack. He blamed the siege in part on Algeria's support for the international military intervention in Mali, where Belmokhtar and other al-Qaeda leaders have taken refuge.

Belmokhtar has used his ties across the Sahel-Saharan region to build his operation.

"He is the first to penetrate the social fabric of the Touareg and Arabs of northern Mali and the Sahara in general. He wove relationships with various tribal leaders by virtue of intermarriage and money," explained Sid Ahmed Ould Abdel Kader, a Sahel expert and veteran of the 1990s Touareg rebellion.

"Laaouar was married in Azawad and local brokers managed his money," he said.

"The Libyan revolution also contributed to his rise by weapons and new recruits available," analyst Abdul Hamid Ansari pointed out.

The transnational nature of the terrorist's activity highlights the need for Maghreb and Sahel states to co-operate on security, experts say.

"Such co-operation could provide security for their people and protect their borders from the threat of terrorism," Mauritanian analyst Bechir Ould Banah told Magharebia.

He added, "If co-operation had taken place to the required extent, the terrorist Laaouar and his group would not have been able to infiltrate and threaten the interests of the region for over a decade."

"All countries of the Maghreb should go beyond the narrow view of borders when it comes to security and the war of terror," the analyst concluded.

Analyst Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Ahmed agreed with the need for a concerted approach to security.

"The number one reason that Laaouar can pose a threat is the lack of security co-ordination between the countries of the Maghreb, due to political differences lurking beneath the surface," he said.

After Belmokhtar separated from AQIM and created his own brigade, he was able to expand his terrain, security expert and strategic analyst Hamdi Ould Dah noted.

Because of the new terror map, a pan-Maghreb approach is needed, Ould Dah said, adding that this would require "a lot of co-ordination among Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and, to some extent, Mauritania".
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran to start up world's largest gasoline production unit
The Shazand oil refinery's RFCC gasoline prediction unit will officially come on stream in near future. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will inaugurate the project, the Mehr News Agency reported.
"Moshe, I got some new target coordinates for you."
"Missiles or Stuxnet this time?"
The project will come on stream at a cost of 3.5 billion dollars.

By implementing the project, the refinery's gasoline output would be increased to 16 million litres from the previous figure of four million litres. Once the third development phase of the Abadan Oil Refinery, the LAvan refinery's gasoline production unit, and the RFCC unit of the Shazand Refinery come on stream, the country's clean gasoline output, which meets Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards, will reach 25 million liters, from the current figure of 12 million.

Iran will start selling gasoline conforming to Euro-4 standard in 8 cities from February. The move is a part of Iran's efforts to reduce air pollution. The produced gasoline currently meets Euro-2 standards, he said, adding that newly established refineries are able to produce gasoline which meets both Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dim wits don't know about Operation Platformate yet do they?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:42 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Another Benghazi assassination
[Libya Herald] There is perplexity in Benghazi after the liquidation of yet another man linked to the military. Naji El-Hariri was shot last night, Thursday, in front of his home in the city's Al-Laithi district.

Hariri is the nephew of Omar El-Hariri, who was one of the original members of the group of officers who took part In the Qadaffy's 1969 coup. He is popular in Benghazi today for having broken away from the regime early on.

Disillusioned with the former dictator, Hariri senior was involved in an abortive attempt to overthrow him in 1975 which resulted in him being condemned to death. The sentence was never carried out but he languished in jail until 1990 and from then until the revolution was under house arrest. He joined the uprising at the very beginning, becoming a member of the National Transitional Council, and running the National Liberation Army from March to May 2011.

Omar is said to have been very close to his uncle, acting as his driver.

A week ago, police officer Salah Muftah Al-Wazri was murdered in in the same Benghazi district when a bomb went kaboom! underneath his vehicle.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Housecleaning?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/27/2013 7:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Essentially. Possibly a tribal issue, more likely Islamists removing any opposition.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 15:28 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran calls for formation of "Islamic military organization"
[Xinhua] Iran's defense minister on Saturday called for the formation of a joint military organization among Moslem states, Press TV reported.
Good idea. That way they'll have a force to destroy civilians people in the streets terrorists.
"We have proposed the establishment of a military organization comprising Moslem countries' armed forces in order to defend the rights of the oppressed people" including Paleostinians, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying.
So that next time some Hamas megalomaniac decides to carpet bomb Israel with rockets and trigger another war the Moslem force can step in and turn it into a major regional conflict.
Moslem states should not be third-rate powers, but must turn into one superior military power and do not allow any aggressor to think about invading Islamic countries, said the Iranian defense minister.
There are several reasons that won't work.

  • The first is that even among non-Salafist Moslems the term "innovation" isn't welcome;

  • the second is that the majority of Moslem countries have clan- or tribal-based societies in which the big man on the block is a warrior. But soldiers, competently led and even half trained, beat warriors every time unless outnumbered 100:1 or so. It was disciplined foot soldiers who defeated the French warriors, the guys on the horses fighting for glory and esteem, at Agincourt and Crecy. The disciplined U.S. army defeated the Commanches and the Sioux, who were nothing if not great warriors.

  • Thirdly, "Moslem" isn't a synonym for "united." Lots of those countries -- and sects -- don't like each other, because of the way their inhabitants wrap their turbans.

  • Fourth, you can bet your next paycheck that the Medes and the Persians see themselves leading this putative Islamic force to glory, and we can guess how the Gulf Arabs, for one, would react to that.

    According to the report, Iran first called for the establishment of a defense treaty among Moslem countries in August 2012, with its defense minister saying that "If a strong and strategic defense alliance is formed among Moslem countries to defend Paleostine, the Zionist regime (of Israel) will have no choice but to accept the resolve and demand of the Paleostinian nation."
    Yeah. Sure you can bully them into accepting your non-negotiable demands.
    On Saturday, Vahidi described Israel as "the worst enemy" of Islamic countries and called for their unity against it.
  • Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

    #1  Just like Argentina. Change the subject while your economy implodes.
    Posted by: dacama || 01/27/2013 8:41 Comments || Top||

    #2  Part of this is posturing. But part of it is the overall recognition that there is no clear leader in the Muslim world. Ergodan and his Turkish party are trying and not doing well. The Saudis are having problems with their Sunni Shiite population; they will likely face problems with jihadis in the next few years. Qatar is playing the "long game".

    We're somewhat lucky in that there isn't a grand emir at this point. Doesn't mean that there won't be one after a long and nasty fight about it.
    Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 15:46 Comments || Top||

    #3  1990's "ISLAMIC MILITARY UNION" returneth.

    "Muslim States should NOT be Third-Rate powers, but must turn into One Superior Military Power" > which once again shows why fickly Secular Leftists-Socialists are taking a very dangerous risk in colluding wid fickly ambitious Theo-Socialist Radical Islam.

    WHAT THE LEFT HAS DONE IN AMERICA = AMERIKKA AS PER "UNIVERSALISM" = "STRATIFICATION" FOR DEMOGRAPHIC MINORITIES, IT CAN DO FOR MUSLIMS + LEGAL SHARIA IN AMERIKKA.

    Attorneys + Litigation, NOT the Hard Boyz + AK-47's.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 20:28 Comments || Top||

    #4  Meanwhile, not to be outdone by IRAN ...

    * WAFF > TURKIC [Muslim] MILITARY UNION FORMED, as composed of Turkey + Azerbaijan + Kyrgyzstan + Mongolia, wid HQ based in Ankara.

    * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ERDOGAN: TURKEY MULLING SHANGHAI-TYPE ORGANIZATION [SCO] AS ALTERNATIVE FOR EU.

    No headway/progress in Membership talks between Turkey + EU, so Turkey is now desiring to form its own Org.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:16 Comments || Top||


    Bangladesh
    Cops clueless yet about 3 bodies
    [Bangla Daily Star] Three days have elapsed since the recovery of three bullet-hit bodies in Munshiganj, but the motives behind the murders still remain a mystery with police making no headway into the investigations.

    Bodies of Md Ibrahim, 20, and Abdul Kuddus, 42, were found in Sirajdikhan while 32-year-old Rari Masud's body was recovered from Srinagar on Thursday.

    On completion of autopsy, police yesterday handed over the bodies to the victims' families for burial.

    Three cases were filed with Sirajdikhan and Srinagar cop shoppes in this connection.

    Contacted, Munshiganj Superintendent of Police Shahabuddin Khan said several teams were investigating into the murders. They were looking at whether the crimes were committed due to personal enmity or anything else, he added.

    Also on Thursday, the husband of a housewife fled leaving her dead at a Munshiganj hospital.

    The dear departed is Shirin Akhter, 20, wife of Nur Alam of Sharisabon village in Tongibari. Police said although Shirin was taken to the hospital in the morning, her husband fled when the doctors declared her dead.

    An autopsy was carried out on her body at Munshiganj General Hospital on Thursday, but police were yet receive the report.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  the motives behind the murders still remain a mystery
    Perhaps they used too many vowels in their names?
    Posted by: Skidmark || 01/27/2013 2:19 Comments || Top||


    Home Front: WoT
    P**ing and Periods - Straight Talk about Women in the Front Lines
    Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Excellent article. The blather that "all we want is an opportunity to compete for positions" is pure hogwash. It will never end at that. The gov't and military will [as they always have] insist upon verifiable results or numbers, which the system has always viewed as an indication of a program of successful inclusion. Commanders and leaders at all levels will be held accountable for inclusion. Failure will not be an option. While in the making for decades, this program will only be achieved by a dumbing down of established standards and capabilities. The feminization of the military along with it's destruction has taken a huge leap forward.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 3:16 Comments || Top||

    #2  In other news: Dallas Cowboy's wide receiver coach welcomes Lolo Jones saying she will give us the speed and running depth we've been looking for.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 3:48 Comments || Top||

    #3  So we up-armour a Winnebago, what's all the fuss?
    Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||

    #4  Do you recall the political storm created by the Commander in Iraq when he threatened to Court Martial the next female who got pregnant? For all recorded military history, men who have incapacitated themselves to avoid hardship and danger in the ranks have faced penalties up to death for such acts. However, as women have been added to the system and occupied even in just support functions critical position for which there are only ones and twos in the overall organization, the 'get out of jail' card provided by pregnancy has been played too many times. While hundreds of thousands of women have performed and serviced honorably, as any company or mid-grade officer and NCO can testify, thousands of others have played the system that would never have been tolerated had it been a male. Those company and mid-grade officers have been told repeatedly to shut up and get with the PC program. Now because a relative handful are pressing to break the senior officer position which are reserved to combat arms officer, another dysfunctional program that will give lip service to historical standards but will be operated by instead by EEO standards.

    Way past the time that on a random basis, Congresscritter have to do a 4 month stint no higher than brigade level on the front lines. Consider it 'quality assurance' in making sure that the troops have the best training and security their government could provide. When that sapper attack hits the wires at Oh Dark Thirty, do you want the EEO in charge or people who can do the job?
    Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/27/2013 9:07 Comments || Top||

    #5  "women have performed and serviced honorably"

    I'm sure you meant to type "served," P2k.

    /pedant

    *snicker*
    Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2013 9:32 Comments || Top||

    #6  " Do you recall the political storm created by the Commander in Iraq when he threatened to Court Martial the next female who got pregnant?"

    Actually, I was (am) good with that as long as they also court martialed the father. It takes 2 to tango. (Might have to wait until the baby is born to verify DNA. Women do lie, you know.)
    Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2013 9:39 Comments || Top||

    #7  Way past the time that on a random basis, Congresscritter have to do a 4 month stint no higher than brigade level on the front lines.

    I'll second that. Let them get some skin in the game. Let them ask and answer the question posed by William Bennet in another posted article here: "The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?"
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 10:21 Comments || Top||

    #8  You're correct Barbara. Me bad.

    As for doing the DNA, I'm with you. However, the little 'loophole' is conjugal visits from spouses. Though maybe even in that circumstance in theater it might fall under - damaging government property? /rhet question

    Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/27/2013 10:26 Comments || Top||

    #9  First man that gets pregnant can be charged too...
    Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/27/2013 12:03 Comments || Top||

    #10  One doesn’t need any imagination whatever to imagine what will happen to women combat soldiers whom Islamists snatch from front line battle locations.

    Unfortunately, the treatment of any soldier captured by Islamists will be savage. The question is how the response to those situations changes with the female hostage dynamic. The official line will be every possible action, as before, will be taken to rescue all captured soldiers - regardless of sex. But it’s foolish to believe rescue/negation procedures won’t be modified if the soldiers are female.
    Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/27/2013 12:06 Comments || Top||

    #11  negotiation = negation
    Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/27/2013 12:09 Comments || Top||

    #12  Way past the time that on a random basis, Congresscritter have to do a 4 month stint no higher than brigade level on the front lines.

    Great idea! Kandahar, Bagram. NO! I'll pick the grid.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

    #13  Make that Battalion level, E-2 duties.
    Posted by: tipover || 01/27/2013 12:27 Comments || Top||

    #14  the wymyns should have to register for selective service now
    Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 12:31 Comments || Top||

    #15  "women have performed and serviced honorably"

    Maybe it's time for a new MOS.
    Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2013 13:12 Comments || Top||

    #16  Congresscritter have to do a 4 month stint no higher than brigade level on the front lines.

    Just think about that for a minute or two. Would you want any of the current congresscritters watching your back? Standing guard while you sleep? Sharing your foxhole?

    They would probably tax the foxhole you dig and then fine your for violating some obscure EPA regulation.
    Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/27/2013 14:14 Comments || Top||

    #17  You got a point or two there.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

    #18  Apparently the Fed-DOD is proceeding wid the premise that 19th-early 20th Century "Mahanism" as per Rising Iran + Rising China, etal. = no major war anymore thru 2050 iff not 2100, only "peacekeeping" = benign/minor wars.

    AFAIK the Army-Marines is still planned for downsizing in coming years to circa 550,000 plus-minus for BOTH - pragmatically then, allowing women to serve in combat is a way of preempting + alleviating anticipated shortages in OWG "PEACEKEEPING" manpower [Males] that the Fed-DOD KNOWS will likely occur, espec vee a PROTRACTIVELY BAD US-WORLD ECONOMY = US DEFICIT, DEBT-LED US BUDGET SHORTFALLS/CUTBACKS.

    Lest we fergit, one way to foster a US suborned to OWG + OWG NAU, etc. is via INTENTIONAL, PRE-PLANNED CHAOS/ANARCHIES WHERE MULTIPLE NATIONS ARE FORCED TO BECOME INTERDEPENDENT FOR THE SAKE OF MUTUAL OR COMMON SURVIVAL.

    No major war anymore 2050-2100 because ...
    - Nation/Region-specific economies are too troubled to start one.
    - As per the US, US industries are now controlled by foreign Govts-Companies, hence the US cannot engage in unilateral or joint war widout the approval of same. AT BEST, A OWG-NAU SUBORNED AMERIKKA WILL NEED MANY MONTHS OR YEARS TO UNILATERALLY MOBILIZE IN FULL-SCALE FOR WAR.

    As per OWG "PEACEKEEPING", USDOD = devol into a "1-1/2 Ocean" [less?] Total Force wid "2-1/2-to-3 Ocean" COMMITMENTS.

    Reminds me of post-WW2 1946-1950 = FIRST KOREAN WAR + PRELUDE, when the US thought it could seriously or wholly demobilize from WW2 while opposing the rise + challenge of newly Nuclear, Stalin-led USSR to post-war Europe. NORTH KOREA LEADER KIM IL-SUNG BELIEVED THE DEMOBILIZING, EUROPE/SOVIET-FOCUSED, US "DIDN'T CARE" ABOUT POST-WW2 SOUTH KOREA, HENCE HIS INVASION OF SOUTH KOREA IN 1950.

    The US was caught off-guard first by the original NOKOR invasion of SOKOR, then again by China's intervention at the Yalu. HISTOIRE' + THE "GREAT GAME" SAYS OWG-NAU, "PEACEKEEPING" HAPPY AMERIKKA CAN-N-WILL BE CAUGHT OFF-GUARD AGAIN, SAVE THIS TIME ITS ENEMIES WILL ALL HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 19:55 Comments || Top||

    #19  FYI PRESSTV > KIM [Jong-un]: NORTH KOREA WILL DEFEND ITSELF AGZ US HOSTILITY.

    DPRK doing an IRAN doing a CHINA???

    ARTIC > KIM JONG-UN = US reaction to the DPRK shows that the US has reached the LIMIT/HEIGHT of its wily dastardly anti-DPRK strategy.

    versus

    * RENSE > THE DRONING OF AMERICA WILL TURN THE US INTO A WAR-FRONT | [Presstv] DEPLOYMENT OF DRONES ACROSS THE US WILL TURN AMERICAN SOIL INTO WAR-FRONT [Battlefield].

    The good news is that Amerikka's future OWG-NAU Peacekeeping Babe-Soldiers won't have to leave home = CONUS to fight an enemy(s)???
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 20:05 Comments || Top||


    Good morning
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Birthday Gam Shot

    Rosamund Pike [Filmography](age 34)



    Intelligent Design

    Note: Movie "Jack Reacher" Tom Cruz 5'7", Rosamund Pike 5'9". Hmmmmmmm, who's wearing the heels?


    Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/27/2013 1:22 Comments || Top||

    #2  she was actually a pretty good actress in Reacher. Great cleavage as well
    Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 10:08 Comments || Top||

    #3  Not enough sail for masts that tall.
    Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 01/27/2013 22:39 Comments || Top||


    Syria-Lebanon-Iran
    Eight Children among 16 Dead in Syria Regime Air Strike
    [An Nahar] A regime warplane killed 16 people, half of them children, in a strike on the city of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    The strike came as the watchdog reported seven people killed in air raids on the Aleppo city of al-Bab, and that similar strikes hit Aazaz, only seven kilometers (four miles) south of neighboring Turkey, where a Patriot missile battery went operational on Saturday.

    Video footage filmed by an activist and posted on YouTube showed scenes of pandemonium in Manbij, as dozens of men rushed to the bombed out ground floors of multi-storey buildings to dig out people buried beneath.

    A grief-stricken woman wailed as she stumbled from the scene holding her child.

    A man, his jacket covered in dust, screamed as he bravely ran away carrying a child covered in blood while another bolted past holding a toddler, who could be seen wiping tears off his ash-covered face.

    "Bashar is a dog! Bashar is a dog!" shouted a young man facing the camera, which panned to show a chaotic scene of cars reduced to scrap metal, massive trucks overturned and an entire neighborhood covered in rubble and dust.

    Crowds of teenagers stared in shock at destroyed apartment buildings.

    The footage could not be immediately verified.

    The air raids in Aleppo province came as warplanes targeted rebel positions in neighboring Raqa province, Hama province in the center, Daraa province in the south and an eastern district of Damascus
    ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
    , the Observatory said.

    In northern neighbor Turkey, NATO
    ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
    said one of six batteries of Patriot missiles deployed to protect against a spillover of the 22-month conflict went into operation.

    The battery, provided by The Netherlands, would "help to protect the (southern) city and people of Adana against missile threats," it said, adding the other five batteries should be ready in the coming days.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


    Caribbean-Latin America
    Mexican Army deploys troops to 13 troubled Mexican states

    For a map, click here

    By Chris Covert
    Rantburg.com

    The Mexican Army is deploying 14,000 effectives to 13 Mexican states it considers hot spots in the drug war, according to Mexican news accounts.

    A brief item posted on the website of Reforma news daily Saturday morning said the 13 states receiving deployments include Mexico state, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Morelos, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.

    It is worth noting that most of the states are entities used by Los Zetas to bring product, migrants and shooters from central America to the northern border. Notably missing from the list are three of the six northern tier Mexican states, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora, all of which have experienced some decline in drug related violence in the past year.

    However of those three, Chihuahua has experienced a spike in drug and gang related violence since the start of the year.

    Notably absent from the list are states which have also experienced an increase in violence, namely Sinaloa, Jalisco and Michoacan states. Those states have received security reinforcements since the start of the year in the form of Policia Federal units, which now operate under the auspices of the Mexican Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB) or interior ministry.

    The Mexican national government has shifted the focus of its counternarcotics strategy away from one of confrontation with the several drug gangs currently operating in Mexico using Mexican military forces and by using Policia Federal more to quell violence from drug gangs.

    One of the stated goals of Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto in the new strategy is to eventually return military forces to the barracks. The strategy is already in motion, according to a statement released by the Mexican Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR), or Mexican Navy. Last week Admiral Vidal Francisco Soberon Sanz noted in an Organizacion Editorial Mexicano news report that military troops are slowly being removed from the streets to allow Mexico's police to handle counternarcotics operations.

    Another element of the new strategy is to divide Mexican into five geographical regions overseen by representatives of the local Mexican Army, Naval infantry, interior ministry and Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) or national attorney general. The idea is to make states more responsible for their security, to combine state resources and general knowledge of their regions and to allow close monitoring of police forces by the federal government. With the representatives of those institutions, several states within the zones are to appoint representatives within 30 days of the law's publication. The law that instituted the five zones was passed December 17th, 2012. Implicit in the law are required regular meetings of the five security zones.

    Among the purposes is to provide a means of training and testing local municipal police, and to have that training standardized. Another purpose is to provide a career track for local police for as long as 20 years.

    Some of the meetings have already taken place. For example, the latest meeting of the some of the governors of the northwest zone, held at an aircraft hangar at the airport in Chihuahua Friday afternoon demonstrated Pena's strategy as well as his attitude towards politicians of the Mexican state governments.

    Procuraduria General la Republica (PGR) or attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam, Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) General Cepeda Salvador Cienfuegos, SEMAR Admiral Vidal Francisco Soberon Sanz and undersecretary of the interior for security Manuel Mondragon y Kalb were in attendance from the federal government.

    Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez Valdez, Baja California Governor Jose Osuna Millan, Baja California Sur Governor Marcos Covarrubias and Sonora Governor Guillermo Padres also attended, as well as Chihuahua Governor Javier Durate and his Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or state attorney general, Carlos Manuel Salas.

    According to an opinion piece posted in El Heraldo de Chihuahua news daily Saturday morning, among the first acts at the meeting of the federal government was for cellular telephone batteries of the participating governors and their staffs to be seized by federal government staff before the meeting, much to their apparent surprise and dismay.

    Perhaps more stark was the statement of SEGOB Miguel Angel Osorio Chong that the days of political flexibility of state governors allowed by the previous two PAN presidents, Vicente Fox and Feipe Calderon were gone and that security in the states was now the responsibility of the SEGOB and the president.

    One possible interpretation to SEGOB's statement is that in previous federal governments state governments were allowed flexibility in their security spending, within the parameters set by the Chamber of Deputies. A good example would be two years ago when the Mexican Army was expanded by 18 battalions. State governments were allowed to donate land for the construction of new bases to house the new units, and provide smaller amounts from their budgets for construction.

    Now the relationship has changed. One indication of how SEGOB will determine that change is that state governments are probably going to be asked to provide much more of their own budgets for federal government requirements in security.

    According to a news report on El Diario de Coahuila news daily website more recently, Coahuila governor Ruben Moreira Valdes announced Friday that 150 more police vehicles are to be purchased and deployed, including 16 patrol cars and 34 pickup trucks. This time half of the MX $68 million cost being borne by Coahuila state. The 50 vehicles are to be "distributed" to the five municipalities of the troubled La Laguna region.

    Governor Moreira has been under intense political pressure due to the increased violence in La Laguna and from the notion that his state has ignored the region.

    Coahuila is currently faced with an austerity program initiated by the PRI-dominated state legislature after it was discovered that Coahuila had acquired over the course of three years the heaviest per capita debt in Mexico. The pressure mounted by criminal gangs in Torreon, which has virtually closed down the nightlife in there, coupled with a tight budget is creating obvious problems for security in the Coahuila side of La Laguna, even as the Mexican federal government has decided to deploy troops to affected areas.

    By contrast, in Zacatecas state, according to a news item posted on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily, the state had already received some of its security allocation in the form of weapons, uniforms and equipment for police totalling MX $5 million. Another MX $18 million has been given for a new police training program, and MX $14.6 million for other security purposes.

    According to the article, Zacatecas state Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP) Jesus Ortiz Pinto, the Policia Estatal Preventiva (PEP) have expanded their number by 300 percent, although the article does not state the time frame.

    Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
    Posted by: badanov || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


    Africa North
    Salafists torch 3 Tunisia shrines
    [MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian salafists attacked three more Sufi shrines on Thursday (January 24th), Tunisie Numerique reported. The Sidi Ali Ben Salem mausoleum in the Gabes town of El Hamma was totally destroyed by fire.

    The Sidi Ahmed al-Ghout shrine in Douz was also burned and desecrated, while arsonists attempted to torch the Sidi Knaou mausoleum in Matmata.

    A day earlier, salafists in Sousse destroyed the Sidi Ahmed Ouerfelli mausoleum in Akouda.

    "The on-going attacks on mausoleums and zawiyas are part of a methodical plan aimed at destroying collective memory," a culture ministry statement said on Wednesday.

    According to the ministry, a new security unit will be created to protect historical and cultural sites.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

    #1  Sufis are strong adherents to the principal of tolerance, peace and are against any form of violence. Of course their coreligionist brothers the Wahhabi and the Salafist are strong adherents to the principals of intolerance, jihad, and suicide kabooms so I can see the disconnect.

    It is ironic; what Islam needs is Mahatma Gandhi.
    Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 11:03 Comments || Top||

    #2  Sufis are strong adherents to the principal of tolerance, peace and are against any form of violence.

    Some times and some places. But Sufis have historically been as mad for jihad as the rest; mysticism turns as easily outward as inward. See here, for an outline.
    Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 15:38 Comments || Top||

    #3  al-Ghazali, perhaps the most influential Muslim writer after Muhammed, both shut the door of Sunni theology to reason and philosophy and - on the same grounds - integrated Sufism into orthodox Sunni thought.

    What ties them together is the assertion that Allah is pure will and purely transcendent. On that basis the Sufis created large brotherhoods, sometimes in areas marginal to Islam. Some of them ended up pretty syncretic with local traditions, as in Mali and elsewhere. Hence the modern Salafist attack on the tombs of Sufi saints in north Africa.

    But TW is right: overall, the Sufis were often the shock troops of militant Sunni Islam. Their core doctrine is that one can approach Allah only through direct experience ... anything else is idolatry.
    Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2013 16:47 Comments || Top||

    #4  Trailing wife and lotp,
    I don't dispute what you say. I am sure that Sufis Saddka also makes it ways to the hard liners. But last I checked, they were not the ones running the madrassas that are turning out graduates whose education only qualifies them to be terrorist and chattel owners.

    From trailing wife's cite,
    "For the Islamists -- for hard-line fundamentalists like the Saudi Wahhabis and the Taliban -- the Sufis are deadly enemies, who draw on practices alien to the Quran. Where Islamists rise to power, Sufis are persecuted or driven underground; but where Sufis remain in the ascendant, it is the radical Islamist groups who must fight to survive."

    BTW, I liked my computer generated name "Glainter Scourge of the Sith2042". I almost didn't want to change it.
    Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 18:30 Comments || Top||


    Arabia
    Southern Yemen marches on
    [Yemen Post] As Sana'a prepares for the arrival of UN Security Council representatives ahead of a meeting on Yemen meant to iron out the country's next moves in the framework of the transition of power, activists in Aden - southern seaport and main stronghold of al-Harak, Southern Secessionist Movement - called for a Million Men March.

    Secessionists hardliners advocated a clean break from Sana'a central government this Thursday afternoon from Crater - a popular district of Aden - urging all able men and women to stand for their freedom and right to self-determination in an unequivocal rejection of northern dominance.

    With pictures of Ali Salem al-Beidth - former president of South Yemen - held as flags, tens of thousands of protesters chanted independence.

    Political activists said they wanted to send a clear message to the international community and Sana'a central government through the march and drill into politicians psyche that South Yemen would not agree to less than it deserves - Freedom -

    The move came a day after UN special envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar returned to the capital ahead of the UNSC meeting.

    With Soddy Arabia
    ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
    having failed so far to reconcile al-Harak inner factions on their calls for independence - The Saudis have hard at work over the past few months, promoting territorial and political unity as the only way out of the current crisis - politicians are contemplating federalism.

    Mohammed Abu-Lohoom, founder and Head of the Justice and Building party first proposed the establishment of a federal system in Yemen in 2011, saying it would give groups such as the Houthis and al-Harak the freedom they required while maintaining Yemen's territorial integrity.

    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


    Africa Subsaharan
    AfriForum wins bid to halt Zim helo delivery
    Follow-on to yesterday's post.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


    Caribbean-Latin America
    Scores dead in Venezuela prison riot, hospital says
    [FRANCE24] At least 50 people were killed and 90 others wounded on Friday after a riot erupted at a prison in Venezuela, a hospital official said. Clashes broke out after prison guards launched a search for illicit weapons, the country's prisons minister said.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


    Syria-Lebanon-Iran
    Iran Official: Attack On Syria Is Attack On Iran
    [HOSTED.AP.ORG] Issuing Tehran's strongest warning to date, a top Iranian official said Saturday that any attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a sign that it will do all it can to protect embattled Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad.
    Despoiler of Deraa...
    Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his comments as Syrian troops conducted offensive air raids against rebels and discovered a trio of tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons in their fight to topple Assad.
    I'm wondering if this is a prelude to "volunteers" from the Basij or the IRGC showing up to fight in Pencilneck's new "militia." All they have to do is term the aid the Sauds and Qatar are pouring in as "international intervention."
    The world has been grappling over how to deal with Syria ever since an uprising against Assad's regime erupted nearly two years ago. But so far, there has been no international intervention on the ground where more than 60,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.
    There won't be an "international intervention." The Russians and the Chinese would be 100 percent against it. NATO don't want it spilling over Syria's borders, hence the Patriots, but they're not going to expend any money on it. The Medes and the Persians would be nothing but a source of additional cannon fodder.

    The Syrian revolution was pretty neat when it started, evil against moderately good. Then al-Nusrah showed up and it became evil against moderately good and even more evil. The Nusrah turbans expect to toss Pencilneck, then install themselves as the next iron-fisted rulers. I think the Syrian opposition realizes that's what they intend but they're so involved with their own infighting they're not paying any attention to it, figuring they'll worry about it in the sweet by-and-by.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

    #1  Any chance of getting paypal buttons for both sides?
    (ammo only)
    Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:41 Comments || Top||

    #2  What is Tehran trying to do? Give the world even more incentive?

    :-)
    Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 9:54 Comments || Top||

    #3  More likely the Iranian sense that "the world" has no real incentive to topple the Syrian regime. Few nations want to arm the rebels when the dominant factions are Islamists (it's quite possible the US government found itself doing so, and lost the Benghazi consulate and four of its citizens trying to put a stop to that.)

    Factor in an international leadership vacuum, where Russia has been the only strong and consistent voice on the stage, and it's no wonder the Iranians are playing the yappy sidekick.
    Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 15:39 Comments || Top||

    #4  Few nations want to arm the rebels when the dominant factions are Islamists (it's quite possible the US government found itself doing so, and lost the Benghazi consulate and four of its citizens trying to put a stop to that.)

    Yes, likely in fact.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 15:48 Comments || Top||

    #5  Risng Iran = Shia Islam effec sees itself, NOT Sunni Saudi Arabia, as the "tip of the spear" in modernizing the entire Islamic World + uplifting same towards Shia/Iran-led, pan-Islamic OWG Caliphate on par, superior, or dominant to all other.

    "Mahanist" Rising Iran = "Mahanist" Rising China = desires strategic access to the Mediterranean vee Syrian-Lebanon ports for projection of Trade + espec MilPol Power. HOWEVER IMPERFECT, BOTH IRAN + CHINA HAVE ROUGHLY SIMILAR HISTOIRES' IN MILITARILY CHALLENGING OR OPPOSING STRONGER OR TECH-SUPERIOR POWERS [post-Cold War, 2013 = USA].

    Both are employing similar strategies vee the USA
    - "Active Defense" or "Strategic Defense".
    - Burden on the US-n-only-the-US to prove its case.
    - The US-n-only-the-US must unilaterally locally intervene.
    - Priority is the defeat or destruction of USN Aircraft Carriers + Escort/Battle Groups, + Amphibs, + at vital tactical or strategic
    "chokepoints".
    - GREATEST SINGLE ANTI-US WEAPON IS NOT MILITARY OR ECONMIC, BUT POLITICAL-DIPLOMATIC, I.E. PRO-DIPLOMACY/NEGOTIATION POTUS BAMMER + ADMIN.

    Thats alleged Anarchist-for-anti-US-OWG/Globalism
    POTUS Bammer + Admin.

    Widout control or "sole" sovereignty over TAIWAN, there is no "post-US", future "World #1", "Manifest Destiny" for Rising China - WIDOUT NUCWEAPONS TO PAR OR HIGHER WID THE US-WEST = JUDEO-CHRISTIAN/NON-ISLAMIC FIRST WORLD THERE IS SIMIL NO OWG CALIPHATE = "GLOBAL ISLAMIST-JIHADIST STATE" FOR RISING SHIA IRAN.

    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 19:15 Comments || Top||

    #6  Yes, likely in fact.

    I still don't have confirmation. The only known 'known' is that someone wanted the consulate removed from Benghazi.
    Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 20:55 Comments || Top||

    #7  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ISRAEL THREATENING TO ATTACK SYRIA IFF REBELS [andor Hezbollah] CAPTURE [Baby Assad's]CHEMICAL WEAPONS.

    'Tis a de facto "game-changer" as far as Israel = Tel Aviv is concerned for Israel-vs-Regional-Militant-Groups iff Syria's WMDS + LRBMS Delivery Sys gets captured by NOT-ASSAD.

    * RELATED TOPIX > ISRAEL DEPLOYING MISSLES ["Iron Dome" BMDS] AS NETANYAHU SEES ASSAD COLLAPSE.

    versus

    * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SAUDI PRINCE: HEAVILY ARM THE SYRIAN REBELS TO FIGHT ASSAD + "NEW TALIBAN" IN SYRIA | [Reuters]SAUDI PRINCE CALLS FOR SYRIAN REBELS TO BE ARMED [AAMS + ATGMS]

    ARTIC > PRINCE = "Radical Al-Qaeda forces" have begin entering + setting themselves up in Syria [IIRC, to fight agz both Assad Govt. + Rebels].

    Methinks POTUS Bammer + Benji Netanyahu are still gonna have serious "issues" over the removal-vs-non-removal of Baby Assad.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:40 Comments || Top||

    #8  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ISRAEL THREATENING TO ATTACK SYRIA IFF REBELS [andor Hezbollah] CAPTURE [Baby Assad's]CHEMICAL WEAPONS.

    'Tis a de facto "game-changer" as far as Israel = Tel Aviv is concerned for Israel-vs-Regional-Militant-Groups iff Syria's WMDS + LRBMS Delivery Sys gets captured by NOT-ASSAD.

    * RELATED TOPIX > ISRAEL DEPLOYING MISSLES ["Iron Dome" BMDS] AS NETANYAHU SEES ASSAD COLLAPSE.

    versus

    * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SAUDI PRINCE: HEAVILY ARM THE SYRIAN REBELS TO FIGHT ASSAD + "NEW TALIBAN" IN SYRIA | [Reuters]SAUDI PRINCE CALLS FOR SYRIAN REBELS TO BE ARMED [AAMS + ATGMS]

    ARTIC > PRINCE = "Radical Al-Qaeda forces" have begin entering + setting themselves up in Syria [IIRC, to fight agz both Assad Govt. + Rebels].

    Methinks POTUS Bammer + Benji Netanyahu are still gonna have serious "issues" over the removal-vs-non-removal of Baby Assad.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:40 Comments || Top||

    #9  Right now, by most accounts the number of IRGC [Quds force] in Syria + Lebanon is not high enough to worry Israel + IDF - that will change very quickly iff Iran decides to significantly expand their number.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2013 22:45 Comments || Top||


    Africa North
    French forces advance on Gao
    [FOXNEWS] French forces took control of the airport and a key bridge in the radical Islamist stronghold of Gao under cover of darkness early Saturday, making a significant inroad into territory held by the Al Qaeda-linked extremists.
    Meanwhile, the usual suspects back in La Belle France are asking "are they bogged down?"
    It has, after all, been nearly two weeks. That's enough time for a full miniseries if you broadcast Mon through Fri. That's even enough time for the episodes to make it onto Youtube. Is the fan site up yet?.
    The move comes just two weeks after France launched its military offensive to rout the Islamists from power in northern Mali. It isn't clear what kind of resistance they will face in coming days.
    My guess would be that they'll encounter devout men with turbans and automatic weapons. What's your guess?
    French and Malian forces came under fire in the morning and continued to face sporadic "acts of harassment," in the afternoon, said Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman in Paris. He had no immediate estimate on casualties.
    "Keep yer head down, Jean-Francois!"
    The Islamists first seized control of Gao and two other northern provincial capitals--Timbuktu and Kidal--last April during the chaotic aftermath of a coup in the distant capital.
    Gao, at least, fell in the beforemath of the coup. Are we the only ones who've been paying attention?
    French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced in a statement from his ministry Saturday that jihadist fighters who encountered the advancing French and Malian troops "saw their means of transport and their logistics sites."
    I don't think they got the entire quote in there. It should probably read: "jihadist fighters who encountered the advancing French and Malian troops 'saw their means of transport and their logistics sites go pfffft!'" Otherwise it's an incomplete sentence, and I'm sure M. Le Drian doesn't speak in fragements.
    Before the joint air-land operations overnight, French forces carried out "an important phase of airstrikes" around Gao and Timbuktu, with nearly 30 bombs fired from fighter jets over the previous two days, the military said.
    Waydaminnit! Yesterday the turbans blew a "strategic" bridge, thereby cutting off access to both Niger and to Gao. Now we've got the Frenchies teleporting in right past the wreckage.
    More French and African troops and equipment were being sent to Gao, the French Defense Ministry said. Troops from Chad and Niger "should arrive in the Gao area very soon," it added.
    They will provide a relative plentitude of bodies, cutting the likelihood that random shots fired in their direction will hit Frenchies.

    Frenchies take Gao
    That was quick, especially for being bogged down as they are.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

    #1  WTF? In the name of Cromwell, assemble the fleet (such as it is) and commence doing the thing we do.










    Oh... Gao.
    nvmd.
    Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:28 Comments || Top||

    #2  Cornwallis, dang it, never mind. sigh.
    Posted by: Shipman || 01/27/2013 3:30 Comments || Top||

    #3  could be 'in the name of Crom'

    Crom being the god worshipped by Conan the Barbarian
    Posted by: lord garth || 01/27/2013 11:09 Comments || Top||

    #4  they better make sure they don't lose any soldiers to the Islamists. this is not a war where you want to be a prisoner.
    Posted by: Raider || 01/27/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

    #5  Waydaminnit! Yesterday the turbans blew a "strategic" bridge, thereby cutting off access to both Niger and to Gao. Now we've got the Frenchies teleporting in right past the wreckage.

    Does anybody know how deep the water was under the blown bridge?
    Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2013 21:47 Comments || Top||


    Syria-Lebanon-Iran
    Syrian women join ranks of Assad forces
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  How American of them!
    Posted by: Skidmark || 01/27/2013 10:56 Comments || Top||

    #2  How very progressive. Will this result in a change in the administration's attitude toward Syrian winners and losers? Generals Dempsey and Odienero, what say you ?
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||


    Africa Subsaharan
    Boko Haram: Last Gasps of a Killer Group
    [ALLAFRICA] Back to Boko Haram! All thumbs should be pointing skyward for Nigerian troops who must be commended for rising to the occasion. Unused to counter insurgency and unfamiliar with fighting urban guerrillas, Nigerian troops have, under three years, succeeded in containing and localising Boko Haram.

    There should be no surprises on the day Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, is captured. Of course, he will appear sober, as most gangsters are wont to be and probably in disguise: no long, unkempt beard, no over sized chewing stick, no turban and probably spotting a French suit. Despite an increase in serial killings, he no longer appears to be in control of his group which is in complete disarray.

    They may continue to target prominent and not too prominent northerners and continue in their unislamic practice of bombing innocent people in their places of worship but truth is that they have come to the grim realisation that they cannot win their misguided war. They have reached the end of the road and are desperately clawing at straws in their bid to avoid the deep blue sea. One instance of clawing at straws is the 19 January attack on the Amir (Emir) of Kano, Dr. Ado Bayero.

    Northern Nigerians have serious issues with their traditional rulers and many wish to see traditional institutions abolished. Many see traditional rulers as part of their problems because most of them have been compromised: they do not speak for their people and have teamed up with politicians who mindlessly corner the common wealth. Some traditional rulers are happy playing court to politicians who come calling with bags of ill gotten wealth, and simply turn a blind eye to the many atrocities committed by the politicians.

    Some of the juiciest government contracts are reserved for traditional rulers who see nothing wrong with indulging in monthly federal allocations that should be used to provide infrastructure for communities. Of course, their children pick some of the best jobs in the land without having to break a sweat. It is now an open secret in many communities in northern Nigeria that voters remain undecided until traditional rulers decree who they should cast their votes for.

    Having failed to use religion to rally the people to support their wrong-headed campaign, Boko Haram must have reasoned that exploiting this genuine anger of the people against their traditional rulers would do the magic. This thinking informed the failed attempt on the life of the Shehu of Borno last year as well as the attack on the Amir of Kano, two traditional rulers who should feel genuinely insulated from allegations of greed.

    Like the failed bid to exploit religion, the attack on traditional rulers is a desperate change of tactics, a counter-productive move that has further widened the gulf between the people and Boko Haram. Aside the usual Allah ya isa or God dey, or such invectives as azzalummai which people employ to describe their traditional rulers, very few right thinking Muslims and Christians of northern Nigerian extraction, despite their genuine anger imagine that killing traditional rulers is part of the solution to the many problems of the north.

    Of course these are polluted, hateful and hate filled times but despite the madness of the moment, many northerners do not imagine that killing innocent Nigerians, Muslims and non Muslims, in their homes, in market places or at their places of worship or killing policemen, be they Christians or Muslims, is the way forward. Only criminals who read their religious books upside down do.

    Like a bad dream, Nigerians will outlive the ongoing madness. The attack on Dr. Ado Bayero was probably intended to be a game changer. A punch drunk boxer will gasp for breath to muster all effort in the hope of landing a killer punch to turn the tables against a better prepared and more determined foe. That is what Boko Haram's daredevilry of 19 Januaryrepresents.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

    #1  True, or wishful thinking?
    Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||

    #2  You gotta ask?
    Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

    #3  wishful thinking. These guys are not on their last gasp of air at all ... Nigeria has a long way to go.
    Posted by: Raider || 01/27/2013 21:16 Comments || Top||


    Israel-Palestine-Jordan
    Spengler: Israel's Choices and America's Failure
    He opens with:
    A number of commentators have drawn a parallel between Israel's national elections on Tuesday and the formation of a national unity government just prior to Israel's preemptive attack on Egypt in June 1967. Despite stern warnings to the contrary from the Johnson administration and being at mortal risk, Israel won the Six-Day War. The decision to strike was preceded by weeks of anguished debate. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to form the equivalent of a national unity government after the elections, with the moral authority to strike Iran.

    A great gulf is fixed, though, between the Cold War environment of 1967, when the U.S. feared an escalation of a Middle East conflict into a global confrontation with the Soviet Union, and the world of 2013, where America's competitors have a marginal role in the Middle East. The Johnson administration feared that Israel might upset its Cold War calculus and give advantage to Russia. To some extent those fears were realized (Egypt's turn toward Russia culminated in the 1973 attack on Israel), but the advantage that America drew from its alliance with the region's strongest power more than outweighed other considerations. What does the Obama administration have to lose from an Israeli strike on Iran today? Nothing, it would appear, except its own illusions. It is much easier for Israel to disregard American warnings today than it was in 1967. Lyndon Johnson was genuinely sympathetic to Israel but concerned about spillover into the Cold War. Obama has nothing to lose but his illusions.
    And then there's this delicious paragraph near the end:
    While the Obama White House fiddles with utopian fantasies, the Middle East burns. Israel has a clearer shot at Iran than at any time in the past ten years. With the Assad regime holding on by its fingernails, the likelihood of retaliation from Syria is nil. Hezbollah's capacity and willingness to attack Israel with its substantial missile capacity is also limited by Assad's distress. The risk of war with Syria was always a limiting factor in Israel's capacity to reduce Hezbollah. With Assad weakened, Hezbollah is on its own. As for Egypt: I doubt if its army has enough gasoline to move a division of tanks to the Israeli border.
    Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Israel will have to act as it sees fit to defend threats to its survival. Operation Orchard was a strike against Syria's nuclear facilities in 2007 and Operation Opera was a strike against Iraq's in 1981. There was a lot of squawking about it for awhile but it dissipated and very little was done in response by any country. It would seem that they did the world a huge favor.

    While the Obama White House fiddles with utopian fantasies, the Middle East burns. Israel has a clearer shot at Iran than at any time in the past ten years.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 16:36 Comments || Top||


    Iraq
    Iraqi parliament passes law barring Maliki from third term
    [FRANCE24] Iraq's parliament passed a new law on Saturday aimed at blocking Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki from serving a third consecutive term, as the Shiite premier faced growing pressure from mass Sunni demonstrations against his government.
    They had a president-for-life. They don't need a prime minister-for-life.
    Lawmakers from Sunni, Kurdish and Shiite parties voted for the law, but the legislation still needs the president's approval and will face challenges in federal court after Maliki's supporters rejected the move as illegal.
    "Yeah! His Excellency oughta be able to keep office until the Last Trumpet! There ain't nobody can do the job but him!"
    The law, restricting the posts of prime minister, parliament speaker and president to two four-year terms, was approved as the Shiite premier struggled to bring an end to weeks of protests by Sunni demonstrators against his leadership.

    "Parliament succeeded today in passing an important law to limit the terms of three posts, including the prime minister's," said Khalid Shwani, head of the legal panel of parliament.

    Parliamentary elections are due early in 2014. First elected in 2005, Maliki was re-elected in 2010 in an indecisive ballot that lead to the formation of a fragile national unity government made up of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties.

    Kurdish parties, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc and even some rivals in Maliki's own Shiite coalition failed to trigger a vote of no confidence against the prime minister last year, after having accused him of accumulating power at their expense.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


    Iraq Shiite Mosque Suicide Attacker 'Escaped Jail'
    [An Nahar] A jacket wallah who killed 42 people at a funeral in a Shiite mosque this week had beat feet from prison in an al-Qaeda jail break in September, a provincial politician claimed on Saturday.

    The attacker, who struck on Wednesday in Tuz Khurmatu, north of Storied Baghdad
    ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
    , also maimed 75 people in the deadliest single attack in Iraq since July 23.

    Officials claimed he had entered the mosque by disguising himself as a holy man.

    "The suicide bomber was one of the prisoners who beat feet from Tikrit," said Ali Hashem Oghlu, a provincial councilor in Salaheddin, in which Tuz Khurmatu is located.

    The funeral had been for Oghlu's brother-in-law.

    The politician was referring to a jail break in Tikrit, capital of Salaheddin, after an assault by al-Qaeda gunnies in which dozens escaped.

    Oghlu named the attacker as Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan al-Hashmawi, which corresponds with the name of one of the escapees listed by the interior ministry.

    Hashmawi had received five death sentences on terror-related charges, Oghlu said.

    No group grabbed credit for the Tuz Khurmatu attack, but Sunni gunnies often launch attacks in a bid to destabilize the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008.

    Tuz Khurmatu lies in a tract of disputed territory that Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its autonomous three-province region against the wishes of the central government in Storied Baghdad.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


    -Lurid Crime Tales-
    FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican
    Could have been worse, could have been an underage Benedictine...
    Documents published online for the first time Thursday indicate that the FBI opened an inquiry into New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez on August 1, 2012, focusing on repeated trips he took to the Dominican Republic with longtime campaign contributor and Miami eye doctor Salomon Melgen. TheDC reported in November that Menendez purchased the service of prostitutes in that Caribbean nation at a series of alcohol-fueled sex parties.
    Could have been worse, the pro could have been a Rethuglican...
    The documents, which The Daily Caller had obtained hours earlier from an anonymous source, also indicate that Carrie Levine, research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was alerted on April 9, 2012 to Menendez's habit of paying for sex while outside the United States.
    Apparently it's not a crime in the Dominican Republic...
    ABC News senior investigative producer Rhonda Schwartz was aware as early as May 2, 2012, the documents show, when Levine wrote a source in the Dominican Republic to say that she had "shared your allegations, but not your identities, with a respected, trusted journalist with whom we have worked on other stories."
    Nothing for him to worry about. He's from Noo Joisey. What was that thing about being found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy?
    That was Eddie Edwards and he was in Louisiana ... oh, okay, I get your point...
    Posted by: Beavis || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  If the House won't have him, he could always join the UN.
    Posted by: gorb || 01/27/2013 0:30 Comments || Top||

    #2  The MSM will portray Menendez as a victim and he will run for President as a Donk hero.

    Think Jon Corzine who misplaced hundreds of millions of his clients funds at M F Global. He got a free pass.
    Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/27/2013 1:31 Comments || Top||

    #3  he could always join the UN.
    Or the Secret Service.
    Posted by: Skidmark || 01/27/2013 2:21 Comments || Top||

    #4  Isn't he the screwball donk who gave the Hildebeast that shameless, bootlicking introduction at the Benghazi ARB (Accountability Review Board) last week ?
    Posted by: Besoeker || 01/27/2013 3:37 Comments || Top||

    #5  An even less than nothing to see here moment, for sure.
    Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/27/2013 8:39 Comments || Top||

    #6  Somehow Menendez was able to kick the can down the road until after the elections. Someone, cough, cough, such as BHO didn't want blowback.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/27/2013 9:25 Comments || Top||

    #7  ICE also pulled their expulsion of an illegal alien sex-offender Menendez-campaign volunteer til after the election. No corruption here
    Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2013 10:03 Comments || Top||

    #8  The quote does originate from Louisiana, but Edwards (running against Klan/Nazi candidate David Duke, his supporters actually had bumper stickers proclaiming: "Vote for the crook - It's important" and it was) was merely quoting an earlier and more prominent demogogue, Huey Long (who may have stolen the quote from someone even earlier and more obscure).
    Posted by: Odysseus || 01/27/2013 10:10 Comments || Top||

    #9  I had that bumper sticker....
    Edwin was crooked, but in a fairly benign way, especially compared with today's politicians.
    Posted by: Glenmore || 01/27/2013 17:29 Comments || Top||

    #10  ABC's This Week had Senator Menendez on its program. Not one question about the FBI inquiry.
    Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2013 17:50 Comments || Top||

    #11  And that surprises you, Pappy?

    any thing with a D after its name gets a apass; others, notsomuch.
    Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/27/2013 18:18 Comments || Top||

    #12  (Not a rhetorical question: I'm curious) Why is the FBI involved? I didn't think we had any jurisdiction in the Dominican Republic.
    Posted by: James || 01/27/2013 20:46 Comments || Top||


    Syria-Lebanon-Iran
    Syria rebels free 100 inmates in prison battle
    [Dawn] Syrian rebels freed more than 100 inmates as they battled against regime troops in a major prison outside the northwestern city of Idlib on Saturday, a watchdog said.

    At least 10 rebels were killed on Friday in festivities inside the prison, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists and medics in the war-torn country for its information.

    "The rebels have been able to free more than 100 prisoners since fighting broke out on Friday, but they have not gained control of the prison," the Britannia-based Observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by telephone.

    Videos posted online by activists showed rebels inside the penitentiary, which is located at the western entrance of the picturesque provincial capital. The city remains under regime control, but Idlib province is mostly opposition-held.

    Dozens of prisoners were shown escaping to an outdoor area of the prison, protected by rebels, as gunfire and kabooms were heard in the background.

    One man collapsed, bleeding profusely, and others were seen struggling to carry him along with them.

    Other footage apparently from inside the prison, illuminated by a green night-vision light, shows bombed-out cells and dead inmates on the ground, who prisoners say were summarily executed by soldiers.

    The videos could not be immediately verified.

    The prison battle followed a day in which 168 people -- 63 soldiers, 60 rebels and 45 civilians -- were killed nationwide, the Observatory said.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


    Africa Horn
    Eleven Kidnapped Sudanese Freed in Darfur
    [An Nahar] Kidnappers freed 11 Sudanese engineers and road builders in Sudan's troubled Darfur region on Saturday, after the earlier release of their four Chinese co-workers, official media said.

    News agency SUNA said they were all kidnapped by gunnies on January 12 as they finished their work in al-Kuma district, northeast of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, which has seen a resurgence of violence in recent months.

    SUNA said the 11 Sudanese looked to be in good health when they were freed near Zam Zam village, southwest of El Fasher.

    It did not explain why the number of abductees had risen to 11, from the five Sudanese initially reported kidnapped alongside the Chinese.

    International peacekeepers announced on January 16 that the Chinese had been freed, and that was confirmed by Beijing's embassy.

    Kuma district chief Mohammed Sulaiman, quoted by SUNA, said freedom for both sets of hostages came "after efforts by the state government."

    SUNA blamed an unnamed Darfur rebel group for the abduction but Ibrahim al-Hillu, front man for one thug organization, the Sudan Liberation Army's Abdelwahid Nur faction, told AFP that a government-linked militia was responsible.

    "According to our information the government paid a ransom to release the Chinese," he said.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


    -Lurid Crime Tales-
    Ex-Detroit Mayor Back In Custody For Weekend
    [HOSTED.AP.ORG] Former bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
    ... ruled by Democrats since 1962...
    Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was locked up for the weekend Friday for violating parole in a 2008 criminal case that bounced him from office.
    "How're the returns looking, Eustus?"
    "We're losing the dead vote, Yer Honor!"

    Kilpatrick was not nabbed but arrived on his own after another day at the federal courthouse, where he's on trial for alleged corruption in a completely separate matter.
    "Your honor, my client requests a four day recess!"
    "What for, Counsellor?"
    "He's gotta spend a few days in jail!"

    The Michigan Department of Corrections said Kilpatrick committed 14 violations related to his failure to report certain financial transactions last fall, especially money transfers to his wife, Carlita. He still owes Detroit $855,000 in restitution and is required to report gifts and other income as a condition of his parole.
    This article starring:
    Kwame Kilpatrick
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  It wouldn't be Detroit if we didn't have an ex-mayor either in the pokey or under indictment.
    Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2013 16:17 Comments || Top||


    Africa North
    French-Led Troops in Mali nearing Timbuktu
    [An Nahar] French-led troops battling Islamist bully boyz in Mali will soon be near the fabled northern city of Timbuktu, visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in Chile on Saturday.

    The French and Malian troops are currently "around Gao and soon near Timbuktu," he said in a speech to the French community of Santiago.

    Ayrault, who is attending a two-day summit of Latin American and European leaders opening later Saturday, reiterated that the French troops backing Malian government forces had no intention of staying.

    "The objective is that the African multinational force being put together be able to take over, and that Mali be able to begin a process of political stabilization," he said.

    A fabled caravan town on the edge of the Sahara desert, Timbuktu was for centuries a key center of Islamic learning and has become a byword for exotic remoteness in the Western imagination.

    Today it is ruled by Islamist bully boyz who have been razing its world-heritage religious sites in a destructive rampage that the U.N. cultural agency has deplored as "tragic."

    French-led troops on Saturday seized the airport and a key bridge serving the Islamist stronghold of Gao in a stunning boost to a 16-day-old offensive on al-Qaeda-linked rebels holding Mali's vast desert north.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


    India-Pakistan
    Pro-govt militia attacked in Dera Bugti; one killed, five kidnapped
    [Dawn] Dozens of gunnies raided a pro-government tribal militia post in Balochistan
    ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
    on Saturday, killing one man and abducting five, officials said.

    The early morning raid took place in Dera Bugti district, about 400 kilometres southeast of lovely provincial capital Quetta, they said.

    "Armed men believed to be several dozens attacked the post and whisked away five members of the tribal force in their vehicles after forcing them to surrender," provincial chief secretary Akbar Durrani told AFP.

    One man who resisted was rubbed out by the assailants, he said.

    Local administration chief Syed Faisal Shah confirmed the raid, saying security forces had been rushed to the area and a search operation had been launched.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

    The government set up a lightly armed tribal force, known locally as a peace force, to help security forces tackle beturbanned goon violence in the region.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army



    Who's in the News
    34[untagged]
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    4al-Qaeda in North Africa
    3Boko Haram
    2al-Qaeda in Iraq
    2Govt of Iran
    2Govt of Syria
    1Baloch Liberation Army
    1Govt of Pakistan
    1Salafists

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    A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

    Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

    Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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    Meet the Mods
    In no particular order...
    Steve White
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    Two weeks of WOT
    Sun 2013-01-27
      French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu
    Sat 2013-01-26
      Green-on-green clash in Khyber tribal region kills 32
    Fri 2013-01-25
      AQAP #2 killed for the THIRD time in Yemen
    Thu 2013-01-24
      US drone strike near Sanaa kills 7 hard boyz
    Wed 2013-01-23
      Nuristan Airstrike Kills 14 Insurgents
    Tue 2013-01-22
      French seize control of Diabaly, Douentza
    Mon 2013-01-21
      Nigeria: Gunmen attack Kano emir's convoy
    Sun 2013-01-20
      Algeria crisis: Hostage-takers 'taken alive' at gas plant
    Sat 2013-01-19
      Boko Haram leader Shekau shot, escapes to Mali
    Fri 2013-01-18
      1,400 French soldiers in Mali for ground assaults: minister
    Thu 2013-01-17
      41 snatched by AQIM in Algeria gas plant attack
    Wed 2013-01-16
      France deploys armoured vehicles towards northern Mali
    Tue 2013-01-15
      Pakistan paralysed after court demands PM arrest
    Mon 2013-01-14
      Famed Tunisia Mausoleum Torched by Salafists
    Sun 2013-01-13
      19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage

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